Today's Devotional

March 25, 2005

Subject:  Fellowship With The Cross Of Christ - Resurrection

Philippians 3:10 - "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Hebrews 11:35 - "Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:"

Day 5 - "Fellowship With The Cross of Christ" finds us analyzing the one event that separates Christ from all other gods - Resurrection.

The scripture says in the Philippians passage above that Paul gave up everything that he might know, among other things, the power of Christ's resurrection.  What is the power of His resurrection?  It is that we, in sharing in His sufferings, are made like Him.  Therefore, just as He was raised, so too shall we be.  That's being raised unto eternal life, but guess what else it means?  It means that we can obtain resurrection of all things dead.  

This is not just our spiritual resurrection that we shall have unto eternal life, for we experience death in many ways.   The circumstances of life can cause emotional death which creates despair, loneliness and heartache.  Christ's resurrection can bring that dead thing back to life.  How about your day-to-day worries like money and job issues?  If you're unemployed or if your job pays you a million dollars and you hate it, that circumstance brings on another type of death.  Well Christ's resurrection is good for bringing to life all things dead.  

This is the type of resurrection that the women in Hebrews waited for.  As that passage says, they went through suffering and pain for the expectation of a "better resurrection."

Today, on Good Friday, do you see the power of His resurrection and how in fellowshipping with His sufferings you can experience the renewal that He brings to your life?  Yes, because He was raised, we too can be raised, but we must want to "know Him and the power of His resurrection."  If He can raise Himself from the dead, then why do we worry about whether He can support my simple issues of life?  He's got power!!!       

Carlen