DEVOTIONAL FROM PASTOR DAVE APRIL 12, 2023

What a glorious Easter Sunday we enjoyed at Signal Crest! From the magnificent sunrise service atop the brow, to the jubilant sounds of the brass and woodwinds accompanying the band in the Crest and the choir in the sanctuary, to the fragrant scents of the Easter lilies and the buoyant Easter hymns and songs, to the full congregations (there were over 500 in worship with us across the three services), it was certainly a Sunday full of joy and celebration of our Risen Lord and Savior.

Following the worship services, my family and I joined some others for Easter brunch atop one of downtown Chattanooga’s tallest buildings. After our meal together, I walked around and looked out the windows upon the city below. I saw things about the city I’d never seen before. For example, did you know that the Westin hotel has an outdoor pool atop its lobby? The downtown looks very different from twenty floors up than it does when you’re down on the streets. Being raised up like that gave me a new perspective.

Being raised up with Jesus in the resurrection gives us a new perspective, too. As Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-7). Paul speaks as if our being raised up with Christ is not just a future event, but in some sense has already happened. So if we have already been raised up with Jesus through our faith and trust in him, then that should give us a new perspective–on life, on death, on the world around us, on everything!

How has the resurrection of Jesus changed your perspective? How do you see things—yourself, others, the world—differently because Jesus is raised and because you are raised in him through faith? And in what ways is the resurrection still working on you, opening your eyes, changing your perspective?

Thanks be to God for raising Jesus Christ from the dead, and for raising us up in him!