The Key to a Change of Heart
Friday, October 21, 2011 Posted by Katie
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“Change is good. You go first.” Perhaps that’s what those guys were thinking after being locked in the upper room for three days. My guess is, no one had put so much as a toe outside of the room since that horrible day. I bet they were itching for a change of scenery and maybe even a change of clothes. But given the fact that the man they intimately and publicly followed for three years was just brutally murdered, and there were threats on the street to do the same to each of them…well, as I said, not one toe.
But the thing is, they did eventually leave that room. A few years back, I heard a sermon from Rev. Dave Rochford at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church of Daleville, Virginia which addressed this truth. The idea which Rev. Rochford presented has stuck with me ever since. The most puzzling thing about the disciples leaving that locked room is that they didn’t skulk out under cover of night. They came out bold and brazen. They got in the faces of those who facilitated the crucifixion of Christ and publicly accused them of killing the Son of God.
What kind of change of heart could have facilitated such a reaction? The kind that saw a living, breathing, eating, talking Jesus before their very eyes, three days after he was killed on a cross. That’s what happens, you see. When you realize that the resurrection is the real deal, that it took cowering men, and made them unflinching martyrs, it changes your heart completely.
Without the resurrection, you can scrap everything I’ve said this week. In fact, you can scrap everything anyone has ever written, said or believed about the promises and the love of God. None of it makes sense without Jesus’ victory over death.
But with the resurrection…new frontiers are forged, new identities are embraced, new plans are made, and lives take on colors that take the world’s breath away.
Can I get an Amen?
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” – 1 Peter 5:10