Easter — Tuesday
TODAY’S VERSE
Luke 24:5b
Why do you seek the living among the dead? (ESV)
Did you know I used to live in a graveyard?
Okay, not really. But sort of. The very first apartment that my husband and I ever lived in was right by a cemetery. I could have thrown a rock from my front stoop and hit any number of headstones (I never did, of course, out of respect for these hundreds of dead neighbors who graciously never made any noise or called the landlords to complain about the burnt toast smell coming from my kitchen). It was only a couple of acres, and no one had been buried there for many years… and I would know, because I spent hours in that cemetery. In the evenings when our tiny space started to feel like the walls were closing in, I’d pop out for a walk in the graveyard and a breath of fresh air.
I would walk the path of crumbling concrete and study the headstones as I passed by. Some covered over with moss, some so old you could barely make out a name, some having stood the test of time, and very few with any sort of flowers or signs of remembrance from loved ones. I’d ponder these people, wondering who they were and what kinds of lives they lived. I’d feel heartache for the one that read “Henry Baker, 1901-1902.” I’d feel curiosity at the one of Louise, whose headstone was thrice as grandiose as the one for her apparent husband Charles. I’d see the family surnames and generations buried close by, pondering what kind of storms they weathered and if they loved each other. If they loved Jesus.
But do you know what I never found in that graveyard? A living person. Because people who are alive don’t live in graves.
In our search for home, our search for a place where we can fully belong, we sometimes go looking for life in all the wrong places. We look to our careers, or our bodies, or our bank accounts, or even to food, or friends, or family to be the things that will satisfy us. In our worst moments, we return to sin, believing the lie that this time it will finally give us what we want (read Genesis 3 to see if THAT sounds familiar). But it’s like walking in a graveyard hoping to find someone living who has made their home there. Our longing for home can’t be found in dead places. It actually can’t even be found in good places. It can only be found in one eternal person. The one who left the grave behind.
APPLICATION
Write down one "graveyard" in your life (could be a dead-end habit, relationship, or pursuit you keep returning to) and talk to a friend who can help hold you accountable to seeking life in Christ instead.
PRAYER
Lord, in You is light and life. Weed out the dead things in my soul and breathe new life where there is sin. Make me a living testament to the transformation You offer for all.
