Where are you looking for Jesus?

"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." (Luke 24:5-6)

We must always be very careful where we are seeking Jesus: among the dead or the living.

Seeking Jesus among the dead means to relegate Him and His words to the ancient wisdom of a historic figure, beneficial but optional and largely irrelevant to the issues of modern living. Seeking a living Jesus is an altogether different prospect -- one which acknowledges His mastery over death, His power over life, and His absolute authority over everything. A dead Jesus can be admired, quoted, and then easily dismissed, like an accessory to be adorned when it matches your particular outfit that day. But a living Jesus is a Lord and King, and demands our absolute devotion and total surrender. Which one we seek at any given moment says far more about us than about Him.

Love this quote from John Irving's novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany:

 "Anyone can be sentimental about the Nativity; any fool cab feel like a Christian at Christmas. But Easter is the main event; if you don't believe in the resurrection, you're not a believer."

HD or SD? Depends on your perspective...

Week 15, Day 3 of the Grand Story... reading in Psalm 73 about why God allows evil to seemingly prosper...

"For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works." (Ps. 73:27-28, NASB emphasis mine)

One of the difficulties we have in puzzling out why God allows evil to continue is in our very definitions of "good" and "evil." We tend to define these terms in relation to the effects we experience in the immediate moment. If it brings harm or pain or discomfort or death, we call it "evil." If it brings happiness, pleasure, comfort, prosperity, or good feelings, we call it "good." We can't for the life of us figure out why God seems to allow "evil" and withhold "good" from so many people.

It's a bit like HD versus Standard Definition. There is a standard definition we all assume about many things -- life, death, right, wrong, good, and evil. But there is something missing from the picture. We are settling for less than there is available. There is a clearer view available. God says, 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:8-9, ESV)

God has a "Higher Definition" than the Standard Definition" we are used to.

God defines "good" and "evil" in terms of distance from Him, from His heart. "Those who are far" from God perish. They miss what life is all about. They are born, live, and die completely cut off from why they were even created. Is there anything more evil than that?

Conversely, the Psalmist says, "the nearness of God is my good." Scripture defines "good" as that which brings us nearer to God. Many of the things we think of as "good" might actually pull us farther away from God -- success, prosperity, comfort, certain pleasurable experiences. Likewise, much of what we call "evil," particularly in terms of suffering, can actually turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us because of the "nearness of God" we experience in those times. I am speaking here from personal experience, not just sappy Hallmark-card sentimentality. The testing of my faith has proven to produce good things in me every single time.

I am not saying that suffering and pain are good things. Please don't misunderstand me. What I am saying is anything that results in us being increasingly more like Jesus should be considered "good." I don't expect everyone to agree with me here, or share my convictions. That's okay. Even the Psalmist said, "When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight... UNTIL I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end." (Ps. 73:16-17, NASB) Sometimes how we see things depends on where we are standing. Until we come into the "sanctuary of God" -- into His presence and get His perspective -- our view will be limited to our own understanding. We will be seeing in standard def instead of HD.