Think on these things.

We are post Easter; Resurrection day is secured in our minds as the reason to take up the call of discipleship. We’ve heard the testimonies of the women at the tomb; we’ve marveled at the patience of Jesus with the two on the road to Emaus; we have even felt a cringe of doubt as we follow Thomas to the locked upper room and Jesus removed that skepticism with His vivid presence.

But now that we are heading into Easter 2, and Easter 3, etc. in the church calendar, our focus turns to living in that resurrection truth. How do we live in the truth of our dead Savior coming to life? Our reading for this message is from 1 Peter 1:3-9. One way we can live in that resurrection truth is by utilizing a portion of our brain called the left prefrontal cortex. This is the area of the brain responsible for executive function. It is the logical and rational part of our thinking and it also incorporates a bit of imagination into our cognition.

How does this work? When we take a truth like the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, our prefrontal cortex has the ability to ask and answer questions such as this: “since the power necessary for resurrecting a dead and mutilated body is found in Jesus and we are (Colossians 3) now hidden with Christ in God, that means that there is resurrection power available to us as we live each day of our lives.

The prefrontal cortex has the ability to project into the future and imagine the reality of what it will be like to die and then live again. After all, this is the cornerstone truth of the Christian faith. When we engage the prefrontal cortex, we are asking ourselves to logically and imaginatively engage our thinking so that we are settled and rational in our decisions. Because Christ lives and we too will live again forever with Him, death becomes the worst enemy; but death has already been defeated. We are, then, given an opportunity to offer a snide glance at this culprit who cannot win against anyone who is in Christ. Death is a loser. Death can’t hold onto us. Death, therefore, has no more power or constraint over us.

With our greatest enemy reduced to smoldering ashes, we can trample on the day’s ambitious challenges with even greater ease. We are given the opportunity to advance and strive, knowing that God has already set us up to succeed in all that He has prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). We can also look at failures and setbacks as turn signals, showing us that there is something better on the periphery.

So strive! Because these blessings God has given you cannot be diminished or whittled away. 1 Peter 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” This inheritance is forever protected. Not even one ounce of it can be removed. No success or failure that you experience will deplete this inheritance that is awaiting you. Now strive for each minute, each human experience, each opportunity to communicate with others because you can know for certain that your inheritance is set.