WHICH SIDE OF THE CROSS ARE YOU LIVING ON?

Pastor Peter McLewin

Have you ever wondered why Jesus asked Mary not to cling to Him after He appeared to her near the garden tomb? “Mary do not cling to me.” (John 20:17) I have come to understand that in this moment Jesus was awakening Mary Magdalene to her true identity. She was clinging to what she knew about Jesus on Friday, but Jesus wanted to awaken in Mary to who He is in His resurrection. The Jesus she knew on Friday functioned with human limitations, but on Resurrection Sunday He was raised with the power and glory He had willingly set aside during His earthly ministry. Many believers find it easier to identify with the suffering Savior than to identify themselves as joint heirs ruling and reigning with Christ.

Jesus lifted Mary to a new way of thinking, to a new identity. Our new identity is that we can have the same relationship with God and Jesus has. We can do the same things that Jesus does. This is what Jesus meant when He instructed Mary to “Go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father.” Jesus wanted His followers to walk in the same relationship that He has with the Father. This is a huge shift in identity. Too many Christians live in more defeat than God intended. He wants us to walk in the same victory that He walks in. Make the shift with me from being a Good Friday believer with doubts and fears to becoming a Resurrection Sunday believer walking in victory.

Why settle for less than God intended for us to have? Let’s walk in victory. When we find ourselves walking in old ways, it is a reminder to us that Friday thinking has crept back into our minds. When that happens, tell the Devil that you have a new identity that he cannot touch. Let’s learn to walk in the strength and power of Resurrection Sunday.

“So then, from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer. So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away, what is new has come!”

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