Looking for the Living

In the weeks since Easter, I’ve been reflecting a lot on the encounter between the women who went to the tomb of Jesus on Resurrection Sunday and the messengers of God they met there.

Everything that the followers of Jesus had hoped for seemed to have fallen away. The remarkable man they had upended their entire lives to follow had been ripped from them in the space of just a couple of turbulent days. It’s hard to picture the depths of the anguish, confusion and desperation they would have been experiencing.

And yet still these women went to the tomb, faithfully carrying the spices they had prepared to anoint his body. Their grief found expression in an act of devotion designed to honour Jesus’ life even in his death. Yet when they arrived, they discovered the stone already rolled away, the body gone, and two messengers declaring that Jesus was alive, and posing them a question:

“Why are you looking for the living among the dead?”
— Luke 24:5

It’s that question in particular which has stayed with me over the past few weeks.

As I’ve reflected, God has drawn me to consider how, like the women at the tomb, sometimes I’ve been looking for what He is doing in the wrong place.

Take my prayer life, for example. So often, the content of my prayers are focussed, almost entirely, around such small, everyday things: that cold I’ve been struggling to shake off, that repair needed on the car, that event I’ve been preparing for. And that isn’t to say in any way that those are unimportant, or that God doesn’t care about them. Arguably, the central theme of Jesus’ teaching on prayer is an encouragement to ask, it’s to bring the nitty-gritty of our day-to-day life to our loving Father, who feeds the sparrows, clothes the flowers, and so much more desires to walk with us through every aspect of our lives.

But at the same time, focussing too much on those means I can unintentionally become curved inwards on myself, and end up missing out on what God wants to show me, speak to me, encourage me with, and help me step into.

Instead, in my prayer time I’ve been trying to slow down before I rush to my requests, and intentionally first ask the question “God, would you open my eyes to what you’re doing in the world?”

As I’ve done that, I’ve begun to be amazed by the signs of new life I’ve seen springing up all over the place:

• I’ve had unexpected conversations with friends who don’t follow Jesus about knowing true peace in the midst of mental health struggles.
• I’ve realised the amazing provision of skills and expertise within our church community, given to bless the whole.
• I’ve seen the incredible generosity by so many to those in the city struggling to make ends meet.
• I’ve heard stories of breakthrough amongst some of the most remote and marginalised people in the world.

Were all of those things happening anyway?

Yes!

But I’ve been challenged to live with a fresh perspective which seeks to “look for the living”; to look around me with renewed sight and ask God to reveal the ways in which He is already at work — lifting my eyes off of myself, sparking thankfulness in my prayers, and encouraging me to keep on looking for what else God might be doing.

I’m still bringing my requests to God, but I’ve found that I’m doing it with both an increased lightness (having reset my perspective around all that He is doing in the world) and an increased weight (having stirred faith for how He is moving and can move in my own life).

So, my encouragement to you today is to “look for the living” yourself!

Perhaps take a few moments to ask God to reveal in a fresh way some of the places where He is at work in your life, in your community, city, nation or around the world, and carry that question with you out into your daily life with an expectation of finding Him on the move in unexpected ways!