We Are Rising!

In His resurrection body Jesus was revealed to be who He truly was.

He was seen to be who His Father always said He was. And who His Father knew He would become. There could be no mistaking it.

Each of us, too, will one day be known as only our Creator can know us: in all the uniqueness, glory, beauty, and goodness He intended for us to be and for us to experience.

Before His resurrection, people used to scoff at His claims. They thought He was too common. They ridiculed Him. They were afraid of Him. They doubted. They spit on Him. Beat Him. Tried to kill him. And they eventually succeeded.

But this is the promise of Easter for you – and the promise of Easter you must hold out to the people of your tribe:

Just as in the person of Jesus Christ – what God has begun in us, He will finish.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
– Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

Jesus’ resurrection was only the beginning. He was the “first fruits” of a harvest which will include all His creation!

But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; afterward, at His coming, the people of Christ. Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father [...]
– 1 Corinthians 15:23 & 24 (HCSB)

That reality – the truth of each created thing in His Kingdom, known as He always intended them to be known – is already coming to be known through us. And we, the Tribal Family, are committed to it being known and experienced even more in you, and among your family!

Until Jesus Christ returns our task is to see each other with the eyes of God, and to cultivate what He has shown us of each other.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. […] For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.
– 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (HCSB)

It is this reality which inspires a prayer Sarah and I pray most evenings – sometimes at our children's bedtime, and sometimes before Sarah and I turn in for the night:

Help us to see each other as you see us. Help us to know who you made each of us to be – so we can love each other as you love us. Heal our broken hearts and minds – even as we sleep.  Amen.