By Lenore Buth
Anxiety. Take a nap, take a walk, take a pill, it's still there. We often blame it on current events or health issues or family situations, knowing all the while that’s not quite it. The nagging sense that something "isn't right" becomes the millstone we wear 24/7.
Whether we realize it or not, the root cause of our unrest often is a matter of the soul—even for us Christians.
Probably that’s because being human, we often let “life” crowd out what we know is true: Jesus is our Savior and our Friend and he walks with us every minute of every day.
How can this be?
Let’s start at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus, true God and true man, came to earth as a human infant. You remember the Christmas story and what the angels announced to the shepherds:
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11
When Jesus was about age thirty he began to teach and preach about God the Father. He spoke about why he came from early in his ministry.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Jesus chose to give his life for you and me, to pay for all the ways we fail to live as God would have us live. He died so we could be free of God's penalty for sin.
It cost Jesus everything, but all it costs us is trusting. For eyewitnesses accounts of Jesus’ earthly life, we can turn to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Other records exist as well
Several respected historians of the time also described the same events. One was Josephus, a Jewish historian, who lived from 37-100 AD., and wrote "Jewish Antiquities" in 93 AD. Here are some excerpts from that book.
(Jesus) "a wise man ... who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly ... Pilate had condemned him to a cross ... He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him ... And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared." --Book 18, Ch. 3, part 3.
Facts. Names. Places. These historical accounts prove it's no myth that a man called Jesus lived and died on the cross, then three days later, he rose again to life.
After that the risen Jesus showed himself to believers (Acts 1:3). He wanted them to know for sure that he was not a spirit or a ghost, but truly a human being. They touched his human flesh and Jesus talked with them. He ate regular food with them. Then after forty days he ascended to Heaven to sit at the Father's right hand.
The cross was God's way out for you and me
Our loving God knew we human beings cannot live a pure and holy life because we all fail, all the time, even with our best efforts. We can't even live up to our own good resolutions.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9
That's why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to willingly die in our place.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus died so we can live free from guilt and fear of punishment and hell.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24
He did it all for us, so we could have life that never ends.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
How can we be sure?
The Bible points the way:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 6:23
When we confess our sin to God, we hand over all our failures and mistakes and uncertainties. All of it. And leave it there. Because Jesus died in our place, our loving Father answers, "What sin? My only Son paid your debt in full. My dear child, I love you."
It's as if God looks at us through one of those lenses equipped with a filter and sees only his perfect Son.
We can swap anxiety for peace. For good
Jesus living within us means we never need to fear what comes next. Not even death will end our story because as believers in Christ our last breath on earth will be our first breath in Heaven.
Whatever our life situation, we can be at peace in our hearts and minds because Jesus set things right between God and us, not just for one day or one week, once and for all.
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
Prayer:
Lord, may your Easter joy and peace live in our hearts and minds each day.