Article April 6, 2020 Issue

Let Jesus’ resurrection transform you

Lois Degler

Crucifixion. Resurrection. Ascension. These are the events in Jesus’ life that make up the Easter story and beyond. This story shows how an understanding of God as a loving Father, as our very Life, can transform everything about what life appears to be. The Easter story isn’t just a way-back-then story; it has implications for our lives today, because Jesus’ transformation affected not only his own life but also the lives of those who followed him, including his disciple Peter.

I have been tremendously comforted by Peter’s story—by the way his life was transformed by his following Jesus’ teachings. In a similar way, we can live our lives differently: We can follow Jesus’ teachings, and Peter’s story can become our story—with our lives transformed. Jesus’ teachings and demonstration of Life—of God, who is eternal Life—change what we know about life and about ourselves to what is described in Genesis 1: each of us created as the image and likeness of God, Spirit, and innately spiritual. Eternally spiritual. This means that living spiritually, being obedient to the Ten Commandments, and following the guidance of the Sermon on the Mount are natural to us.

Peter had seen something of what life truly is—spiritual, eternal.