After Easter (The Resurrection ) Jesus started showing himself to people. Jesus is still showing himself to people today and He will show himself to you if you let Him.
In 1 Corth.15 verses 12–20. I see Paul proclaiming the good news that the resurrection of Jesus satisfies six of our deepest needs and longings. But in doing this he is not putting us at the center. He is putting Jesus as the center, and God who raised Him from the dead.
Everybody needs forgiveness, and deep inside, even when we don't think about it, we long for it. We long to be accepted by God. We want to belong to a family, a tribe, a nation, and a people as well as a person. We want a best friend that is always there when everyone else leaves. We fear the alienation of our guilt. But Paul says, because Christ rose from the dead, we are no longer in our sins. This is the first and most basic need or longing of our hearts, to know we belong regardless of our short-comings, sin, and guilt.
1. The longing to belong.
In the beginning Adam and Eve knew God as their Father. Their Father would come and walk with them and talk with them in the cool of the day. God cared for them. Even after the fall He clothed them. Adam and Eve were put in the Garden to trust God and in the fall they trusted someone other than God, and then they felt shame, and alienation. I believe that deep in the heart of every person is a longing for someone they can count on through thick and thin. Someone who is absolutely trustworthy. Someone who, if you put your faith in them it won't be in vain. He won't let you down. He will always be there.
We want to belong because we were made for it. God put man and woman in the garden of Eden to glorify God by trusting him for everything they needed. That need has never changed, in spite of sin.
Jesus is that someone-- alive to be trusted.
2. The longing for a friend we can trust.
"The life I live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). How can we not trust someone who would give their life for us? Most people trust their mothers over their fathers because it was their mother that carried them and birthed them. However, today many abort their children, abandon their children and neglect the very gift of life God gave to them. We are not called to trust people, we care called to love people. The only one we are told to trust in the Bible, is God. Trust God. Love people. When we get those two confused we are surely disappointed.
Even when it seemed Jesus had abandoned His followers and they had abandoned Him, He returned to them. He lovingly held out His hands for the doubting Thomas that is still inside all of us. Jesus tells us He will never leave us of forsake us. No matter how high or how low we go in life, Jesus is with us. He sticks closer than a brother.
1. The longing to belong.
In the beginning Adam and Eve knew God as their Father. Their Father would come and walk with them and talk with them in the cool of the day. God cared for them. Even after the fall He clothed them. Adam and Eve were put in the Garden to trust God and in the fall they trusted someone other than God, and then they felt shame, and alienation. I believe that deep in the heart of every person is a longing for someone they can count on through thick and thin. Someone who is absolutely trustworthy. Someone who, if you put your faith in them it won't be in vain. He won't let you down. He will always be there.
We want to belong because we were made for it. God put man and woman in the garden of Eden to glorify God by trusting him for everything they needed. That need has never changed, in spite of sin.
Jesus is that someone-- alive to be trusted.
2. The longing for a friend we can trust.
"The life I live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). How can we not trust someone who would give their life for us? Most people trust their mothers over their fathers because it was their mother that carried them and birthed them. However, today many abort their children, abandon their children and neglect the very gift of life God gave to them. We are not called to trust people, we care called to love people. The only one we are told to trust in the Bible, is God. Trust God. Love people. When we get those two confused we are surely disappointed.
Even when it seemed Jesus had abandoned His followers and they had abandoned Him, He returned to them. He lovingly held out His hands for the doubting Thomas that is still inside all of us. Jesus tells us He will never leave us of forsake us. No matter how high or how low we go in life, Jesus is with us. He sticks closer than a brother.
ACTION STEP: Read your Bible daily. Find out how much God truly loves you. He can get you through anything that you are facing, any trial that arises, any sickness or pain you are experiencing. The Resurrection is important but mainly because of what came after the Resurrection. You have a reason to continue to rejoice in the fact that Jesus wants to meet your deepest human longings.
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