Alive Together With Him: How to Live a Resurrected Life Today

Happy Easter! For some reason, I’ve really struggled to come up with a good post for Easter this year. So here’s one from my old blog, but slightly modified and with a few new thoughts. 

1 Corinthians 15:19 says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”

The hope we have in Christ is the hope of eternity. It’s the hope of knowing Him forever. It’s the hope of being unafraid of death because “death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Cor. 15:54)

If you’re reading this, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve never died a physical death. But without Christ, we are dead in our sins, heading for an eternity of death and despair.

This is why Jesus said we must be “born again” to have new life in Him. Another metaphor is that we must be raised from the dead with Christ. 

Colossians 2:13 says: “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him…”

This is why the resurrection is the linchpin of the whole Christian faith. If Christ wasn’t made alive in the first place, it would be pretty hard for us to be made alive together with Him.

And as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14,“...if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” Later in the same chapter he says, “If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’”(v.32) 

He’s saying that if resurrection isn’t a reality, this life is all we have. And if this life is all we have, why would we live as Christians?

Why would we do anything self-sacrificial or difficult or uncomfortable? Why wouldn’t we just pour ourselves into chasing every earthly pleasure and fulfillment as hard as we can for the time we have?

And here is where 2024 me is going to interject and answer this question a bit differently than I did in 2018. Not because I want to take back anything I said in 2018, just because I want to add to it. 

If in this life only we have hope in Jesus, yes, we are pitiable. But if in the next life only we have hope in Jesus Christ, that’s not right either. 

I am realizing just how many of God’s promises are available to us NOW, immediately, as soon as we start following him. We are not meant to just float along doing the best we can until we die, and then our new life begins. New life begins here and now. 

Sure, we will never be perfect in this life. We’re still going to suffer and sin and have days where we feel like the kingdom of God is a vague fantasy. But that doesn’t mean we can’t live joyful, abundant, beautiful lives on this side of heaven. 

In John 17:3, Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” 

If the very definition of eternal life is to know God, we can start that right now. If, as Colossians 2:13 says, we have been made alive together with Christ, we are alive with him right now. 

And to answer my rhetorical questions from above, we live as Christians not just because we’re looking forward to a future hope, but because we are already citizens of heaven. We are already called to live, as much as possible, the way we will live for all eternity.

That means worshiping God. Enjoying his presence. Becoming like him. Loving others through him. Walking in his footsteps and taking steps every day to align our hearts with his, so that one day when we leave this earth and step into eternity, it will truly feel like we’re finally coming home to what we’ve been preparing for our whole lives.