Nothing Really Matters

Sunday morning, sitting back in a Sunday School room, I heard something that really got my gears spinning. One sentence said offhandedly (I think) had me thinking the rest of the day, and this one little sentence is the inspiration for this post. The fact that this was Easter morning meant that I got to see this lesson put in to practice immediately, which made it all the more poignant to me.

On Easter morning, we sang, we worshiped, we praised and we felt the Spirit move in the church. We heard the words that were said, read the Bible, raised our hands, prayed and did all the other things that go into a church service. As I sat there in my seat I realized that none of this meant anything at all.

Since it was Easter, of course there was a mention of the resurrection of Christ. The depths of the love of God that He would send His Son to die for us was spoken of and was a prominent theme in the songs that we sang. The foundations of Christianity were put on display for all to see and still as I sat thinking it would not leave me that none of this mattered.

Yes, you are reading correctly. I am saying that the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ are totally and completely meaningless. That is until...

"Until Jesus is alive in your heart, that fact that He is alive doesn't mean anything to you."

I may have not got the quote exactly right, but it's close enough and there is so much truth in it. On Easter Sunday there was a clear division of those present and I could see that towards the back of the church sat many people who didn't see the meaning in the singing or in the praise or in the worship. When the pastor spoke, or when the Bible was read or when we prayed, they could hear only words. When we raised our hands and the Spirit moved, all they could see was people acting foolishly. To these people the resurrection is nothing more than just some mythical event to be given no more credence than any fairy tale, the love of God is an antiquated concept germane only to their poor, old, deluded mother, certainly not to them, and Jesus Christ Himself is nothing more than a questionable footnote in the annals of history. None of what was happening bore any significance to them nor held any meaning at all. Jesus doesn't live in their hearts and because of it, none of what was happening really mattered.

There is a chorus that we used to sing that starts "There's been a change in me, a change in me. I'm not the one I used to be." This song speaks of the change that happens when you are saved and Christ inhabits your person, but it just doesn't go far enough, not nearly. The truth about Christian conversion is that more than just you changes. Yes you have become a new creature when you put off the old man, but there are further implications inherent in that statement. I can simplify what really happens into two words: Everything changes.

Those exact same words spoken over the pulpit on Easter morning are filled with a life that they didn't have before. Worship and praise gain a meaning that is impossible to conceive of before you know the Lord. The Bible becomes more than just a book, morphing into the living Word of God and furthermore you realize that He is speaking to you through it. Even the simple action of raising your hands ceases to be a motion to go through and becomes an act of surrender to God.

At the same time, things that mattered so much to us at one time "grow strangely dim" as the song so eloquently puts it. The true significance of what we cared so much about becomes evident and those very things that held sway over our lives lose their grip and are replaced by new things whose value is real. We see life through different eyes and it's only when you've reached this point that you realize the truth in the simple statement, everything changes.

While I'm sure that most of the people who sat in the back of church last Sunday morning were just there to please someone they are related to or perhaps out of some misguided attempt to curry favor with God by showing up to church once a year, I'd bet that there was at least one person who wished that everything made sense so that they would have a reason to believe. There will always be those among us of nominal faith or who really have no interest and that's fine with me, but it is those waiting for something to happen before they take the plunge that make me sad.

While I mean this post to be for everyone, really it is addressed to those who wait. If all you ever do is wait you will never find yourself in any other place than where you are right now. Don't wait instead make a decision. Either decided to ask Jesus to forgive you or don't and then move forward. One way or another discover for yourself the truth that either nothing really matters or that everything changes.