The End Zone Dance

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 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. – I Peter 1:3-5 NIV

BIG IDEA

Imagine that you are in a stadium full of football fans and, in an instant, they explode with joy. Think TOUCHDOWN! It is nuclear joy, radiating faces, radical relief, high fives with complete strangers, and a catharsis of hope. It’s a magnetic feeling – for the moment at least. On the field there is much of the same. You see grown men jumping, dancing, head-butting, and slapping each other on the bottom. This post-score spectacle is appropriately called the “End Zone Dance.”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ – a manifestation of the kindness and mercy of God toward us – is to be the believer’s source of continuous celebration on earth. It delivers relief, peace, and freedom from the fear of death. But at an appointed moment in the future, we will enter God’s stadium filled with all believers from all time to glory together in our ultimate victory through Christ. No earthly moment will compare and the party will never stop!

MY EASTER TAKE AWAY

When a believer allows the reality of resurrection in Jesus Christ to sink in, the only proper response is enthusiastic worship! Each and every chance you get, let the reality of the resurrected and victorious life you possess in Christ fill your soul and then explode out of you. Authentic and energetic praise is the is the natural reaction of a believer to His Savior’s winning effort on their behalf.