Have you ever been to a magic show? And before in your head you say yes, I mean a really good magic show. I’m not talking about the dude who comes to your cousin’s seventh birthday and has another side job as a balloon artist.

 I’m talking David Copperfield, Houdini, next level magicians that do nothing but mystify you from start to finish.

I actually had the opportunity to see a David Copperfield show when I was younger. Two words to describe that show: incredible (oh that’s one word you say? Well, Copperfield is so good he reached into the future and took out the other word because it wasn’t necessary).

I mean, the dude literally grabbed random audience members from the crowd and transported all of them to Hawaii… what?!!? He made a drawing move and also levitated himself like 10 feet in the air.

These are things that defy reason, they should not be able to happen right? I know that you are reading this and you don’t believe me. “Of course those things don’t happen Taylor, magic isn’t real and it’s impossible.” (<<wow, harsh)

And you know what, you’re right. But we’re not here to talk about magic, we’re here to talk about Jesus (plot twist!).

As you heard all last weekend, Jesus died on the cross. He died for our sins, paying the ultimate price in order for us to live in freedom, not sin and oppression.

But even more incredible than that, He defeated death. He died in our sins, but rose from the grave renewed and victorious over the darkness in our world.

If you haven’t been hearing this your whole life, it would sound a little ridiculous right? No one actually comes back from the dead, right? I mean you hear about the people who are technically “dead” when their heart stops beating during surgery or something, but that’s for what, three minutes?

Jesus was dead for three days, and He wasn’t revived by a defibrillator. Just to clarify, THAT DOESNT HAPPEN NORMALLY.

What Jesus did was beyond this world and because of that, it was hard for some of Jesus’ closest followers to believe this.

Peter was told by Mary Magdalene that Christ had risen and he didn’t believe her. He instead immediately took off running towards the tomb. It was not until He saw that Jesus was in fact gone that he believed.

We also have Thomas, who took even more to be swayed.

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

Thomas is very practical and reasonable in this situation, yet He has failed to believe in the magnitude of Christ. 

Just like probably most of the audience members in that David Copperfield show I saw, he was skeptical. I’m sure Thomas was hearing whispers that Jesus had indeed risen, then he heard it from his very closest friends, but still he doubted.

It’s not true, it can’t be real, he most likely thought… and for the world’s standards, Thomas was absolutely right.

Magic isn’t real, what I saw at that David Copperfield show, while really cool and super convincing (at least to dumb kid me), wasn’t real.

But believe this: Christ is real. His sinless life was real. His sacrifice for us was real. His resurrection was real. His love for us is eternal.

Those things are absolute, yet are totally against all that our world tells us is possible.

As Christians, we have a distinct advantage in that we can see this world, in all of it’s gloom and doom, but live removed from it. Our bodies are here, but our hearts and our soul is with Christ, our risen Redeemer, who took all of our sins from us.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Sometimes it is hard to believe what Christ did for us. In a skeptical world where “seeing is believing”, a man dying and coming back to life around 2,000 years ago is a tough pill to swallow. 

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But we have faith. We trust in the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.

Believe in Him, believe in what He did for you.

Dear Lord, take away our fears and our doubts in You.

What you did for us should still be fresh on our minds, even if this event occurred so long ago. Your sacrifice was incredible and I will never be able to understand the full scope of what you’ve done for us, but I stand in awe before you Father. I am mystified not by the things of this Earth, but by your unending love and mercy. There is nothing and no one else like You. Thank You for choosing to love us, and thank you for dying for our sins. I love You Lord, Amen.

-TK