Which Day are You Living In?

Image created with the aid of Gemini's Nano Banana 2 and Microsoft Designer

 

 Have you ever heard someone say, "Sweet Baby Jesus!" or refer to His mother as the "Virgin Mary"? Oftentimes, we take an image, an impression, of someone from a particular point in their life and then apply it to them as a whole. Sunday morning, during worship, God impressed upon me the idea that we tend to "live" in one of the mindsets of the days of Jesus' crucifixion. On Friday, Jesus was executed on the cross. On Saturday, He lie dead in the tomb, and on Sunday, He was gloriously resurrected. Whether intentionally or by default, we operate with one of these perspectives. 

 Friday was a dark day. Our LORD was tortured mercilessly. He fulfilled all of the prophecies about Him and He gave up His Spirit, dying the death that we owed. It is a day for which I will be forever grateful, and one that I must remember, but it was not the end! Think about it. How often do you see people wearing a crucifix? Is that their Jesus? Is He dead on the cross? What does that say about their faith? Yes, He died for their sins, but He didn't stay dead, and that's the key to it all. If we live in Friday, keeping Christ on the cross, we live in sadness, in utter loss. We relive the pain and cost of our sin over and over and over again. We are never free from the shame of it all. Should we remember the cross? Of course! Every week at our church we take communion and remember Christ's body broken for us and Christ's blood shed for us. That is crucial. That we remain in a place of grace, of gratefulness, of laying down our sin and shame and leaving it there. But we can't keep Jesus on that cross. No, He came down from it. He was removed from it by his friends and taken away. Living with Jesus on the cross forever denies His ultimate power over sin and death and keeps us chained to it.

 Saturday may have seemed even sadder. At least on Friday people had hope that something would happen, somehow God would intervene. Surely this couldn't all end this way! But on Saturday, it had. It was over. Jesus was dead and buried. There was no hope. It was over. Oh, what a shame to live in Saturday, but I've seen so many people do it. They see that Jesus died for our sins, but that seems to be the end of it. They take out "fire insurance" by accepting His gift to us on the cross, and then they go about their business as usual. Jesus goes in one box, and the rest of their life in another. Living in Saturday means a lack of relationship with God, a lack of hope. For, truly, it is in relationship with God, in connection with Him, that we are saved. Spiritual death is separation from God and without relationship, that's where we are. So, if you're one of those that says you believe in God but you're just "not that into" Jesus, I ask you, are you living in Saturday?

 "Might feel like Friday, but your Sunday's comin'" as Zach Williams says. On Sunday morning, the women found the tomb empty, the disciples confirmed it. Jesus was dead no longer! They saw Him. They touched Him. Hundreds confirmed that He was, indeed, alive and well. Having died for our sins, paid the price we were meant to pay, He could now assert His power over sin and death and rise again. That means Jesus is alive and real today. He is available to us, desiring to be our friend. He longs for relationship with us, to engage with us, to be real and alive to us. He's not a historical figure to read and learn about. He's a living, active, present God that we can, and should, connect with. We can talk to Him as a friend. We can live our lives alongside Him, with His guidance and direction. We can tell Him our deepest fears and greatest joys. He can be our best friend. Because He's alive, it changes everything. 

Here's the Thing: Which day are you living in? Are you still bound to your sin and shame, reliving it and having it weigh you down as you mourn the death of Jesus on the cross? Are you relating to God in a transactional way, where He paid the price for your sins and you accept that, but that's where your connection ends? Or are you engaged with the living Christ? Are you in relationship with Him? Is He your best friend? If we get to choose which day we live in, I choose Sunday!