By Laura Adkins

How often do we consider the impact of Christ’s resurrection on our everyday lives? Are we encouraged by the fact that he conquered death and the idea that we stand on his victory? For me, it’s a rare day that I ponder the power of Christ’s sacrifice and miraculous resurrection on which my faith stands. I am usually too distracted by the tasks I need to complete in order to make my life more comfortable.

The Power and the Mystery of the Resurrection

I can hear the voice of the apostle Paul crying out as he wrote to the Philippians, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection” (3:10). This verse strikes a chord deep in my bones. 

When I was in college, I once spent a night in tears while friends hugged me and prayed for me. That night, my fear of loneliness and the fear that I am not loveable died while an assured confidence in Christ’s love for me resurrected in my soul. (Though I’m still working on fully believing it and living in it today.) 

Christ’s resurrection is a powerful event and a deep mystery that I want to know—not just in a factual sense but in an intimate sense. Paul exhorts us to explore and to know the truth of this mystery in the deepest core of our being, since it is the truth on which our faith stands. The resurrection of Christ is our hope.

The Power of Community

We explore this mystery as a community in Christ. We recognize that in order to resurrect, Christ first had to die a painful death. 

We also must die in order to be resurrected with Christ—our selfishness must be destroyed. So we ask ourselves and each other the following questions: What needs to die in my life so that it can be resurrected with Christ? What in my life needs redeeming? Through what disciplines and obedience can I come to know Christ and the power of his resurrection in an intimate sense? He is waiting for us to ask. 

Laura Adkins lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband, Terry. She teaches 6th grade Language Arts at The Summit Country Day School.