And he died, and he rose – and so what?

Easter is in the air and it’s a good time to enjoy time off work, spend time with friends and family, and for the more spiritual or religious fellows, there will be time spent ‘meditating’ on ‘the reason for the season’. But cutting to the chase, Christians believe that Jesus died and he rose after a couple of days, was seen by his disciples and went up into heaven – and will be back one day. Right?

But when you look at the way you live your life, every day, do you sincerely think that the death of some man over 2000 years ago is important enough for you to live in a certain way? The answer from many ‘faithfuls’ will be a resounding ‘yes’ – but honestly, I am not really interested in what your lips are saying; Your lifestyle tells me what you really believe.

Let me tell you what many lives tell me about their belief in God.

I look around me and what I see is people who say they believe there is a God. To be frank, to say otherwise would put them in very bad light with their peers. So, for social reasons, they have to agree that there is a God. They have no proof of this God, no relationship with this God, have never heard a voice from heaven or seen any visions. However, these individuals, including YOU, most likely, have learnt about things like prayer, modes and styles of worship and have been told about the value of piety and other ‘spiritual’ exercises. In addition, the chances of an individual practicing the same religion (or a variant) as his parents are far greater than otherwise. So a ‘Christian child’ grows up to remain ‘Christian’, and so do other children in other religions worldwide.

Basically, the most popular version of Christianity is cultural Christianity. To re-enforce this fact, ask yourself this question:

If I decide to practice another religion, how will I be treated by family, friends and my peers?

If you can muster some honesty, you realise there are strong social influences that make you uphold what you call your belief. The truth is, it is possible to SAY you believe something, and not really believe it. A more miserable state is that, it is possible to say you believe something and NOT really believe it – but yet, NOT KNOW you do not believe because you have learnt to deceive yourself or do take time to really examine yourself.

When people really BELIEVE something, their whole lives mirror that belief.    

So when you wake up, day after day, and you go about your life, does it reflect the truth of your belief – even when no one is watching? Is pleasing the Christ your compass, the underlying foundation that influences your action, or does it all just come down to Easter bunnies, holidays, traditional services and religious rites, with no real thought of connecting with the Saviour, living just for him, letting private moments be times of worship, standing alone in the crowd when the whole world is embracing compromise because you have accepted him as the saviour and also as Lord…

OR

Do you just live like, there was a Thor, there was a Hercules, there was an Alexander the great, there was a Marcus Aurelius – and there was a guy called Jesus, who died…and so what?

By your lifestyle which shows what ‘fruit(s)’ grow(s) out of your heart, the answer will be clearly known…