Spring has sprung! What a wonderful time of year this is as we see the wonders of God’s creation all around us. It is almost like everything that we look at outside has a giant arrow on it that is pointing upwards in the direction of God. What a marvelous God we serve! As I write this newsletter, we have just come through the Easter season where we remembered the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Luke and chapter 24, we read about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Not long after the resurrection, these disciples were discussing all that happened over the past few days. Well, as they were walking along, none other than the risen Christ himself joined them on their 7 mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They talked for some time but for some reason, they were kept from recognizing Jesus (Luke 24:16). Ironically, the main topic of conversation was the crucifixion and the empty tomb. One of them asked Jesus, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” (Luke 24:18) Eventually, Jesus chose to reveal himself to them and Luke describes it this way; “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27) My guess is that these men would have felt pretty silly after learning that they had been talking to Jesus and they didn’t even know it! Truth be told, we are more like those disciples than we might think. Just like the disciples who had the Old Testament Scriptures that from front to back points towards Christ, we too have truckloads of evidence that verifies how Jesus, God’s Son, died on the cross for our sins. The problem is we are so slow to believe.

If some of you are a bit confused at this point, let me try and explain what I mean. I think I would be right in saying that most people who attend evangelical, Bible-believing churches believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, what we have a hard time believing is that Jesus Christ is more than capable of managing the affairs of our lives and taking care of us. Our biggest problem is that we tend to be stubborn and unwilling to surrender every area of our lives over to the care and provision of the Lord. We don’t really believe that He is sufficient to handle our every need. But we need to be honest and admit, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) From a factual standpoint, there is no denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ – for 2000 years the evidence has withstood every test. Believing that Jesus conquered the grave is the simple part – the hard part is to fully trust Him with our lives. Friend, are you willing to do that every day of your life? The longer we wait to do that, the more of a mess we make with our lives – it’s as simple as that. The Apostle Paul makes it crystal clear for us – “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)