As we celebrate Good Friday and Easter this weekend, here is a reflection that helps us understand the significance of these events for our lives:

IN WORD God is the object of our worship, worthy of all praise and honor and glory forever and ever. But in a remarkable turn of events, when God restores and gathers His people and makes them plainly visible in the eyes of the world, He will give us praise and honor. The harsh opinions of the world that have kept people of faith in low esteem will suddenly be turned into favor. The social systems that made human power, ingenuity, economics, and achievement the ultimate goal of life will be exposed as always superficial and now obsolete. And those who believed in a humble Messiah who won people into His Kingdom through a humiliating execution will be revealed as the wisest and most powerful of all.
Our lowly submission to our God will result in exaltation in His Kingdom. Isn’t that amazing? The first will be last and the last will be first. Those who served the most, who offered themselves as living sacrifices, and who maintained their love in the face of hatred will be lifted up and honored. Meanwhile, all those who invested their lives in the passing values of an ego-driven world will have to look up to the ones they once discounted. In the end—whether of a captivity, in Zephaniah’s time, or of time itself—God’s people are revealed as sons and daughters of glory.
IN DEED Remember God’s promise when you feel drawn to the values of the world and the idols of the age. Do not give any piece of your soul to the things that will one day be made low. They sap the life out of those who cling to them. Instead, invest your heart in an invisible Kingdom that will eventually be the last—and best—Kingdom standing. “The glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.” - Irenaeus (“Heaven on Earth” by Chris Tiegreen)

Do you understand what Jesus has done for us? We are anxious about current events such as the Russo-Ukrainian War, about the situation over Gaza, and a host of troubling trends. But because of what Jesus has done on the Cross and the work of the Holy Spirit to raise Jesus from the dead, we need not fear, for our hope and future are assured in Jesus’ defeat over sin, death, and evil.
Take time to reflect on 1 Corinthians 15 this week. Ask the Holy Spirit to put all things into perspective so that you will live rightly in the light of eternity. May the shadow of the Cross and the glorious light of the Empty Tomb brighten your days! – from Singapore, Pastor Sam