The Easter experience is the joyful celebration and understanding that our sins have been forgiven. Jesus has gone to the Father and we are reconciled to Him.
But there is more!
The New Testament supplies additional information about our lives, not only are our sins forgiven, but it also speaks of a new life in Jesus. Jesus speaks of us having an abundant life. What does that mean? How do we obtain it?
Salvation means a different life—not just the forgiveness of sins.
Christ died on the cross so that we can be reconciled to God. This means our sins are forgiven, but the Bible tells us there is much more. It points to a different life. This means, from this day forward, we can live a “life of abundance.” Our faith in this promise from Jesus drives us to look for ways to experience, including physically, this abundant life. Realize the abundant life is not just “spiritual”, our life includes our body.
Just as athletes train themselves to perform their best, we must train both our body and our mind to do our best. In 1 Timothy 4: 7 Paul instructs “Train yourself for godliness…”
Bodily disciplines, i.e., training, advance our intimacy with God. God wants His temple to be within us. God wants to live in you and Jesus promised just that in John 14: 23 “…and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Most Christians never experience the life of abundance that Jesus wants to provide. We have never realized our human form, our bodies, are intimately tied to the experience of God. We have never been taught within our churches the basics of our need to synchronize our physical with our spiritual. Spiritual life is not a separate reality, flowing along beside our bodily reality.
In the beginning, God created man physically. He wants him to exist on the earth, performing the functions He has set forth. For a man to conduct his purposes for God, he must exist physically. This body that God has created is as intimately involved in our relationship with God as our thoughts and prayers. How could it not be so? It is an equally divine creation, not just a disposable container for the soul. This special physical being can, therefore, be tuned to the harmony of God’s communication.
How?
In the next two posts, I will present ways to use silence, solitude, fasting, prayer, service, and worship, activities beneficial to deepening our relationship with God.
But there is more!
The New Testament supplies additional information about our lives, not only are our sins forgiven, but it also speaks of a new life in Jesus. Jesus speaks of us having an abundant life. What does that mean? How do we obtain it?
Salvation means a different life—not just the forgiveness of sins.
Christ died on the cross so that we can be reconciled to God. This means our sins are forgiven, but the Bible tells us there is much more. It points to a different life. This means, from this day forward, we can live a “life of abundance.” Our faith in this promise from Jesus drives us to look for ways to experience, including physically, this abundant life. Realize the abundant life is not just “spiritual”, our life includes our body.
Just as athletes train themselves to perform their best, we must train both our body and our mind to do our best. In 1 Timothy 4: 7 Paul instructs “Train yourself for godliness…”
Bodily disciplines, i.e., training, advance our intimacy with God. God wants His temple to be within us. God wants to live in you and Jesus promised just that in John 14: 23 “…and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Most Christians never experience the life of abundance that Jesus wants to provide. We have never realized our human form, our bodies, are intimately tied to the experience of God. We have never been taught within our churches the basics of our need to synchronize our physical with our spiritual. Spiritual life is not a separate reality, flowing along beside our bodily reality.
In the beginning, God created man physically. He wants him to exist on the earth, performing the functions He has set forth. For a man to conduct his purposes for God, he must exist physically. This body that God has created is as intimately involved in our relationship with God as our thoughts and prayers. How could it not be so? It is an equally divine creation, not just a disposable container for the soul. This special physical being can, therefore, be tuned to the harmony of God’s communication.
How?
In the next two posts, I will present ways to use silence, solitude, fasting, prayer, service, and worship, activities beneficial to deepening our relationship with God.
