Abundant Life by Rev. Max Edwards
infers an optional reality that is accessible upon the fulfilment of certain conditions. The key that unlocks this wonderful reality is the rejection of sin and self. It’s somewhat ironic that the doorway to life is death. Death to the death we’ve been living in. Death to selfish ambition. Death to worshipping the idols we’ve surrounded ourselves with. Death to separation from God. Death to sin. Someone once said that God doesn’t ask much of a man; just all of him. When we acknowledge that without Him, we are dead, and we willingly choose to surrender our will to His will, the same power that raised Christ from the dead flows into our spiritual reality, and we come alive! The Scripture is clear that this life-giving power “… is the same as the mighty strength [God] exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:19-20). This amazing news means that the commemoration of Easter is not only a memorial celebration of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is a declaration that we too have been raised to life by and through the power of the Holy Spirit. All of us were dead. But all of us who are redeemed by grace are now alive! The bottom line is this: we can either choose to live once and die twice, or we can choose to die once (accepting Jesus’ sacrifice) and live twice. Let’s choose life! LIFE. TRUE LIFE. ABUNDANT LIFE has been made available to us through Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! And the life that we experience in Christ is beyond imagination. We are free to experience all of the joy, with none of the guilt. Fellowship with God is not a boring, black-and-white existence. It is full of vibrant color and richly satisfying experiences. It is neither hollow, nor one-dimensional. It is jam-packed with creative and robust opportunities. The incredible offer that Christ makes is a trade. We have the option to trade away our dead, empty existence, and when we do, we receive an amazing and fruit-filled life. And aren’t you just dying to live? Me too! “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Rev. Max Edwards the International General Superintendent of the Evangelical Methodist Church.
The Connection
SPRING 2021
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