There is always one question that most compels and convicts me whenever I read about the resurrection of Jesus, and it’s this:

 “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” 

 The scripture says two men that “gleamed like lightning” spoke these words to the women who arrived early in the morning at the tomb of Jesus. (Luke 24) The women had gone to pay homage to the dead and were stunned to find a robbery.

And so, I ask myself and I ask you,

“why are we all still looking for the living among the dead?”

Why do we think we’ll find life in that which has no breath? 

If we follow Jesus we’ve put our faith in his words, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  John 10:10

But I don’t really think we believe this because we keep on clutching at cobwebs and digesting decay. We keep looking for life in all the wrong places.  Here are at least five of them:

1) We cling to the past– whether it’s past hurts or past honors, the past is past. Officially, it’s dead. Yet, we keep looking back hoping there still might be something there for us. But it’s a sham. Both our glory days and our gory days are permanently in moth balls. When Lot’s wife looked back, scripture says, she turned into a pillar of salt. She died when she focused on yesterday.

The only time that is full of life

is this present moment.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” 

2) We accumulate more- whether it’s new shoes, a new car or anything else we can purchase and take home with us  -(except maybe a new puppy or a pound of protein) we get tricked into thinking that initial buzz we get from a purchase actually brings us “life.” Yes -we get a little high – a little race of the heart.

But when we buy an inanimate object that’s the endgame. It cannot reproduce itself or produce life giving energy. Of itself, it is a dead thing. The buzz tricks us into believing that buying brings life. The buzz always dies. No matter how much we paid for the shoes or the car or the house or whatever.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

3) We abuse substances – whether it’s sugar, alcohol or drugs, when we overdo on these we are hoping to find some life in a substance that, in the long run, has a short shelf life. Oh, it feels good, momentarily, then it dies. And so do we the more we keep abusing it.  But -again, we are bamboozled by the buzz because it makes us feel “alive.”

But all we’re actually doing is numbing our real life, that at that moment, might involve some pain. Pain is a sign of life. A warning that what our life actually needs is nurture, care, understanding and compassion.

” Why do you look for the living among the dead?” 

 4) We seek distractions- entertainment, social media, television and sports are a huge part of modern life.  If our life feels dead, we can tune into someone else’s’ within seconds and get a little hit of “life.” Certainly there are elements of life in all of these, especially if they are consumed with others you are actually “doing real life with.” But watch for the ways you distract yourself from your true life by leeching off someone else’s. Watching someone else’s life in hopes of finding yours is still death.

” Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

5) We fall into temptation –The evil one’s only scheme is to so camouflage death that we think it is life. He makes death taste like life, smell like life, and even look like life. But it is always smoke and mirrors. Beautiful, scheming, near perfect lies that -in the end -bite like no hell you can imagine.   How can you tell the difference?

You can know it’s death because it doesn’t shout, it whispers. And it ALWAYS says things like, “Just this once.” “No one has to know.” “No one will get hurt.” “You can get a little close and not get burned.” “You owe it to yourself.  “You deserve…”  “Why not?”  “You know you’re strong enough to…”  “Well, maybe just a little.”  Some hiding or compromise or secret will be involved.

At first, it will look and feel life-giving. But, it’s all a hoax. You’ve been had.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

“In (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  

 John 1 

 

“I set before you life and prosperity, death and destruction…

now choose life, 

so that you and your children may live

and that you may love the Lord your God, 

listen to his voice and hold fast to him. 

For the Lord is your life…”       

Deuteronomy 30

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