I was talking with my friend on her cell phone because her landline needed to be repaired. Apparently, on a Friday, since there a loud buzzing sound on her landline phone, she called to arrange for it to be fixed. A telephone repairman came to investigate that same day, but said that he did not know what was wrong and that figuring that out would require a “Level 2 repairman”. A Level 2 repairman arrived on Saturday and was able to determine what was wrong, but explained that to have it fixed would require a “Level 3 repairman.” The Level 3 repairman came early Sunday morning and filled in a work order that the problem was fixed, but had no communication with my friend. After, he left, there was no more buzzing on the phone, but neither was there any dial tone. The phone was dead. So on the Wednesday, 3 days later since Sunday, my friend was waiting for yet another telephone repairman to come and fix her landline. She was not sure what level he would be…
The message of Easter that we carry forward with us is that Jesus was able to fix what needed fixing. His willingness to give Himself for us has repaired our relationship with God, damaged by sin! Consider this Scripture: “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-9) We do not have to wait for someone else to arrive and repair the problem of sin in our world and in our lives. Jesus has accomplished this for us through His resurrection from the dead. This miraculous event gives us the miraculous gift of new birth into a living hope. Whenever we pray, we can be reminded that Jesus has done for us what we could not do ourselves. He has restored our access to God and we can come freely to God in prayer because of Jesus, our Divine Repairman who knows exactly what the problem is and exactly how to fix it! We will thank God for this when we pause for our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow April 12th at 1 pm.
Continuing to celebrate the Easter message of hope because our Jesus has fixed what needed fixing, Pastor Lola
Our Father in heaven, Easter confirms for us that Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever! We want to keep on celebrating what has been accomplished because Jesus was willing to go to the cross for us and was raised from death to life. God, we need Your life-giving work in our lives. We need You to persist with repairing our lives of the damage caused by sin. We recognize the ongoing struggle to overcome the effects of sin in all of our relationships. By ourselves we cannot repair what needs repairing. We appeal to You to do your work in each of us. When we have spoken words carelessly and caused damage, we pray for You to forgive us. When we have been reluctant to say and do what You were urging us to, we pray for You to forgive us. When our thoughts have been obsessed with our own comfort and preference, we pray for You to forgive us. We long our God for the outcome of new birth that Jesus Your Son makes possible. We have our own ideas about how we want You to renew us and restore hope and carry our Your deliberate repair work in us. Right now we want to trust You for Your rejuvenation. We do rely on You for diagnosing and treating what needs to be repaired in us. Sometimes our human experiences are extremely frustrating with those who are not capable of addressing what is needed. Our God, we want to be in the habit of reaching out to You to repair and to mend what is needing repaired in us. We pray that we will not deny our need for You God and what You are prepared to repair in us. We want to welcome Your rearranging of us so that we can receive what You have for us and our world. We offer You praise for our inheritance being kept safe in heaven. Thank You God that we do not have to wait until heaven to receive blessing for our faith in You. Easter has reminded us again that through faith we are shielded by Your power for our journey here. We do anticipate the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time because of what Jesus has done for us. You knew exactly the repair that was needed God and through Jeus You enacted it and we are forever grateful. We commit to move forward from here trusting our living hope in Jesus Your Son and our risen Saviour Who lives and reigns forever. AMEN.