I made a mistake this morning. Not a life-changing, earth-shattering mistake, mind you, but a mistake nonetheless. Easter weekend was busy, but terrific. I spent time with friends, sang great songs with great friends, preached several sermons on the resurrection of Jesus, and then spent the day with my family. I went to bed last night feeling blessed. Beyond blessed, hopeful that God has provided a way to fix the broken parts of our world. Easter is great like that. We take time to gaze intently at what God has done and can do on our behalf. This morning I got out of bed, made my morning coffee, and then... I read the news. My day of focusing on the grace and provision of God in our broken world ended, and I spent the first part of my morning looking at the broken parts again. By the time I finished my second cup of coffee, I found myself discouraged, worried, and frustrated. When I finally sat down at my desk to work, I had a moment of clarity that seemed to be worth sharing. Easter is about God’s provision of a way to erase our past, assuring us that the future is secured through Jesus. Death is not the end of us and everything will be made new by a loving God who has things well under control. It is a powerful truth. It is a truth that brings hope and should act as a lens that we look through to understand everything. Paul wrote about this to a church that was mourning the passing of several prominent members, saying that Christians should not mourn like folks who have no hope. He points to the resurrection of Jesus and reminds them of the hope that comes with believing in the resurrection of Jesus. This doesn’t mean that we should be indifferent to tragedies and injustices in the world around us. Rather, it means that we should never let our knee-jerk response to the brokenness of the world around us dictate our worldview. Instead, we turn to God with our frustrations and rest in the hope that God is just as in control today as He was on Good Friday and Easter. Even more than having hope, we can work to fix things the best we can with the knowledge that God is in control and is in the business of restoring the creation. The trick to living this way is to never forget the powerful truth we celebrate on Easter. Corrie ten Boom once wrote: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” What was true on Easter Sunday is true today and in every seemingly hopeless situation.
