April showers bring May flowers. This old saying is laced with hope meant to get you through the season of rain and gloom. It is meant to remind you that while you go through the season of rain, there is a season of sunshine and beauty awaiting – budding flowers, green grass, the warmth of the sun, outdoor activities, flip flops, bonfires, camping, the lake, vacations, and on and on. Spring is coming!
In a world still full of sin, April showers seem to come often. The hope of new beginnings (May flowers) is what we need to hear in the middle of our daily April showers. Romans 5:3-4 says, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” In other words, our April showers bring May flowers.
The epitome of this is shown in Christ. As we finish off the Lenten season, we have focused on Christ’s April showers. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ is a time of gloom and sadness, but, as with April showers, it is not without hope. Scripture reveals to us that Jesus’ death is not the end of the story. A hope awaits.
Can you imagine the disciples as they watched the surrounding events of Jesus’ death? The man they had given everything up for seemed to be going the way of all others who had claimed to be God. If He was truly God, surely He wouldn’t die… Oh the internal struggles that must have surfaced during Passion Week for all those that confessed Jesus as the Son of God. The gloom of April showers must have filled their hearts and minds. Jesus had died, now what?
Easter Sunday, however, changed everything. Andrew Peterson writes about the moment that Jesus’s heart beat for the first time in his song called Heart Beats (side note – check out Andrew Peterson’s music if you have not heard it before):
“His heart beats, His blood begins to flow. Waking up what was dead, a moment ago. And His heart beats. Now everything has changed because the blood that brought us peace with God is racing through his veins…He breathes in, His living lungs expand, The heavy air surrounding death turns to breathe again, He breathes out, He is word and flesh once more, The lamb of God slain for us is a lion, ready to roar. And His heart beats, So crown him the Lord of life, Crown him the Lord of love, Crown him the Lord of all. He took one breath, and put death to death, Where is your sting, Oh grave, how great is your defeat, I know, I know, His heart beats.”
Paul starts his letter out to Timothy by calling Jesus “our hope”. As we go from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, we have the sure hope in Jesus because his heart beats again. This is why Peter calls the hope that we have as Christians a “living hope” (1 Pt. 1:3). Death has no more dominion over Him. The life he lives is eternal.
Our living hope, Jesus Christ, gives us hope. Romans 8:24 says that it is in this very hope of Jesus Christ that we are saved. Titus clarifies what this means, telling us that our hope is a promise of eternal life and reminds us that God’s promise is sure because God never lies. This is our belief. This is our confession. This is our hope. Jesus Christ truly is God. Jesus Christ died, but Jesus Christ lives again. His heart beats.
As we go through April showers in our lives – times of gloom, despair, struggle, etc., we are reminded of the hope we have in Christ. It is this hope that we confess, it is this hope that we have salvation, and in this hope that we are assured. Romans 15:13 declares the prayer I have for you this month, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in all hope.” His heart beats! Crown Him the Lord of all!
In Christ,
Patrick
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