Alive After Passion

“To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” (Acts 1:3)

Hello, my friend…

Last year it seemed God had me really drill down in my personal life on the subject of peace. In answer to one of my prayers in days past, God is showing me how to live my life, again, with passion. Interestingly enough, this is the only passage found in the original King James Version that uses the word passion – and it refers to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We often speak of passion in the sense of love or lust – someone has been swept away in the heat of passion. It has also been used to describe heinous crimes (i.e. murder) by describing the offender as one who was caught up in the heat of passion (or the heat of the moment). I have even heard of athletes and other performers (musicians, for example) who are swept away or caught up in the zone – playing or performing with passion. All of these examples show someone who has undergone a life-changing event or process. They once played or performed by the numbers, so to speak, but now that they have learned the basic skills, they have become elevated to the ability to “feel” the moment, to live fully in the moment, to play from the heart.

In our text today, Jesus is reported to have shown Himself alive after his passion. I don’t know about you, but if I were being honest, I would probably have come back from the grave and started talking about what everybody did to me. I would go into great detail about the beatings, the mockings, the pain, the suffering, and what I saw and heard in hell. I know how much I whine about getting the common cold or a paper cut, so I can’t even imagine how annoying I would be if I had been wrongly arrested, condemned, crucified, and buried! But we see Jesus, our Example, showing Himself alive after His passion. The word alive (as used in this verse) has a couple of different meanings. One of them, obviously, meant that He was moving about, breathing, and carrying on “normal” life. The other, however, hits me right in the attitude. One of the secondary meanings for alive (again, as used in this particular passage) means to be joyful, to feel blessed, to not just be surviving, but THRIVING!

And that gives rise to our testimony, my friend. When God saves us from a situation, when He raises us up again at the end of the trial, when we come out the backside of some circumstance that was (seemingly) overwhelming, we need to give voice to our praise to God. We need to celebrate that He was with us, that He walked with us through the valley, but more importantly, that He raised us up in newness of life, with a renewed and strengthened faith, with a new vision for the future, and with a new disdain for the word impossible. All throughout scripture we read that nothing is impossible with God. He is omnipotent. Everything that has a name must bow at the name of Jesus. We have read all the scriptures – maybe even memorized a few. What have we gained over our time walking with Jesus? Are you stunted in your growth as a Christian, or are you alive and growing in your faith? Much of how we come out the back end of something depends on our actions and reactions during that period. Read the Book of Job for an understanding of how we should live before God during a trying time of great loss. Read the prayers offered by Daniel as he was thrown into the den of lions. Listen as the three Hebrew young men stood before their accuser and boldly declared, “Even if God doesn’t deliver us, we will not bow down.” Observe John on the Isle of Patmos, having been boiled alive in a pot of oil, then, having lived through that experience, he was exiled to the prison colony on Patmos. Yet we find him in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked around in the midst of the fire with the Son of God. Paul and Silas sang at midnight while shackled in prison. On and on the examples go before us.

We need to reconnect to the God of heaven. We need to recognize His goodness – even in the midst of our pain and suffering. We need to continue to give Him glory even when we don’t understand. I know it’s hard. I just told you the other day I had a complete mental meltdown last week. I couldn’t raise myself up, I couldn’t see any light in the darkness, I couldn’t get a grip on things rationally. If it hadn’t been for my godly lady on the other end of a phone line, I would have been in even worse trouble than I was. We need each other. We need fellow believers who can listen to our pain, who can give wise counsel, who can redirect our focus onto Jesus. And even if we can’t find someone immediately at our disposal, we need to remember we have an Advocate with the Father – Someone Who has imparted to us His Spirit that lives within us. That Spirit, given permission and free-reign in our lives, can offer up prayers for us when we don’t (or can’t) know what to pray.

Today, I challenge you to re-open that line of communication with God. As we lift Him up, He will begin to bring others into our lives who can and will stand with us during the hard times, then will celebrate with us when the victory arrives. Today, I encourage you to step up your thanksgiving and worship. Sure, it may seem awkward or even nearly impossible, but consider Jesus in the Garden as He prayed, “Father, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.” You may still have to go through the fire, through the flood, through the pain, but He has promised to walked with you, to encourage you, to strengthen you, and, yes, to save you. Reach out to Him and find Him there.

Be blessed.