The Christian lives a life of practice. We practice the things that Jesus told us to do, namely, loving others and loving God.
But our practice isn't like a dancer practicing for a grand performance where the judges will be sitting in the front row with their clipboards. No, Jesus already performed before the judge. And he lived the dance without one false step.
Nor is our practice like an athlete training for tryouts to make the team. Again, Jesus' blood already got us a place on the team. Our place is secure.
No, our practice is more like a baby wobbling across the floor on chubby legs because one day he will run; or like an eaglet exercising his wings because one day he will fly; or like a lion cub pouncing on a grasshopper because one day he will stalk real prey.
Christians practice living like Christ because one day we will be real sons and daughters of God, free of neurosis and encumbrances and physical ailments.
But if we wish to live like Christ, we must also practice the death before the resurrection. The death is a coming to the end of all our back-up plans and ideas on how to fix things and self preserving techniques and plans for one more performance because we believe that we can—instead of Christ—fix the problem.
And this resurrection, this coming back to life, happens because we turn away from trying to perform and flex our power and protect our futures, and instead turn towards Jesus' performance and Jesus' power and Jesus' protection of our future.
This is how we practice resurrection.
And the more we practice, the sooner and sooner we come to the end of ourselves.
The more we practice, the sooner and sooner we stop groveling and wallowing in self-pity and shame when we realize once again that we're a sinner.
The more we practice, the sooner and sooner we turn away from the old and towards the resurrection: Jesus' and ours.
More on Christ's Way: Winning the County Fair & Riding the Rails
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