Good? Friday

 I'm writing on Good Friday, but this post will be released on Easter Monday.

In the equivalent of a long weekend, followers of Jesus will go from wearing black clothes and fasting to wearing bright colors and feasting.

If it feels like your Friday will never end, when it seems like an eternally long weekend, I remind you that Easter is coming sooner than you think. Resurrection can only follow death.

I'm not sure about you, but I want to experience the resurrection from the dead!

How can we do that? 

According to an amazing passage in Philippians 3:7-11 there are four stops along the way:

1. Discard my reputation. This is how I become one with Jesus. All of those accolades I've fought for, services I've led, ministries that have grown, all of it... toss it out with the trash.
2. Shed self-righteousness. If I will replace my pharisaical condemnation of others with humbly honoring everyone I encounter, I'm living out my faith. And faith is how I gain the righteousness of Christ.
3. Know Jesus. This is eons away from knowing about Jesus. I may know a lot about Taylor Swift, but if I don't know her--have her number as one of my favorites on my iPhone--or better yet, she has me as one of her favorites on your iPhone, I don't really know her. Many of us spend a lot of time learning about Jesus, but we don't spend much time getting to know him.
4. Suffer with Jesus, sharing in his death. Wait, what? Sharing in his death? Suffering? Yes. And yes. This is the ultimate was we get to know Jesus. Our suffering has a purpose. When I invite God into my suffering, I know Him more deeply than any other way. In other words, when I die to myself, I am raised to life. I live more of the life of Jesus.

Good Friday or Easter Monday... it's all about perspective. Same Jesus. Same God. Same story. 

I'll say it once more: "If it feels like your Friday will never end, when it seems like an eternally long weekend, I remind you that Easter is coming sooner than you think. Resurrection can only follow death."

I invite you to read the passage from Philippians. And after you've read, consider what you will do. Then do it. Might be a prayer, a phone call, or a wholesale change in your perspective. I don't know. But you will. So go for it. I'm cheering you on!

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! - Philippians 3:7-11