“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” Ephesians 5:14 (NIV).

I’ve heard the question “How is Christ’s death and resurrection affecting your everyday life?”

And I wonder, Is it?

When I think of the phrase “resurrection life” I think of the new struggles I face as a believer.

I wouldn’t think twice about lying if I didn’t have his life restlessly scratching at me that my deception is self serving and self preserving—and that he promises to protect and defend me.

Would my conscience sear me without his resurrection life burning slowly in the dark of my flesh?

Forgetting to Remember
Writing these words stops me again—for a second, I reflect anew that truth… The truth that he is my defender and protector. Does that stop me from sometimes choosing words that edge around the whole truth and nothing-but-the-truth, putting me on the precarious edge of a lie? No. It often doesn’t. Because I forget to remember.

Resurrection life is FULL of the discipline of remembering. Constantly remembering his goodness and faithfulness, his promises. Reading Scripture to bathe in the facts of who he has been, of all he has said and done. His warnings, his pleadings, his admonitions and corrections. His tears. The stark historical accounts that prove his steadfast record.

If you read any book in the Old Testament you will find him exhorting the Isrealites to “remember!” again and again! Tells them to write the remembrances down and place them on their hands, foreheads, doorframes, gates—and even says he himself will write the laws and promises on their hearts! 

When someone became a new leader of Israel there was a law that God instituted to have them write their own copy of the Law and Scriptures…

Why?

I believe that it’s because remembering causes us to function from a different place.

Getting Off Autopilot
Often when I am driving to a familiar place I will drive a bit on autopilot. Sometimes this is detrimental….like when I was driving home at the end of the day soon after moving… and arrived “home” only to realize that I do not live there anymore.

If we do not remember, then we drive in ways, to places, that we don’t belong to/in anymore. Paths that lead us away from the life God intends us to have in Christ.

That’s why Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:8 to think on whatever is true and noble and right and pure. Why he urges us to meditate on whatever is lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. He wants us to think on such things and so renew and reorient our mind, because God is a God of life. 

I heard somewhere that God is a force of life—he is life creating—and anything related to death and decay among his people has to be cleansed because God’s life-giving presence would abide with them. And death has no place with him. Letting thoughts of life and goodness dwell in our minds is a way to prepare and partner with God. A way to let his life seep into the marrow of our mind.

When we forget we are loved then we function from paths of despair, isolation, misunderstanding, and self preservation.

In Christ, we are seen, known, loved, and heard. In Christ, we can rest, receive, and be provided for. In him we are never misunderstood, never alone, never have to fear. In him I can come with anxiety and leave guarded from all the attacks against my heart and mind. 

A resurrected life is one of remembrance.

“and when [Jesus] had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper [Jesus] took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me” 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 (NIV).