There is Nowhere To Go
From Here, But Up
Have you ever heard the phrase, “There
is nowhere to go from here, but up.”? When situations reach their worst moment, sometimes it seems that
the only good thing is that it can not get any worse. The wonderful news of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ is that when humanity’s condition was at its worst, God
did His best thing. St. Paul expresses it this way,
Romans 5:6-10
(6) You see, at just the
right time, when we
were still
powerless, Christ died for the
ungodly. (7) Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good
man someone might possibly dare to die. (8) But God demonstrates His own love
for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (9)
Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved
from God’s wrath through Him! (10) For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to
Him through the death of His Son, how much more,
having been reconciled,
shall we be saved through His life!
Powerless, sinners and enemies of God, our situation could not
have been worse, but this
is exactly the moment when God acted on
our behalf. He sent His
precious Son, who was born of a woman,
that He might bear the
consequences of our sins and failures. He paid
the ultimate price for us
by dying on the Cross in our place that we
would be forever forgiven
and reunited with our God.
Easter is the finishing brush strokes on this masterpiece of God’s love for
us. No matter what our earthly trials or challenges, no matter what earthly
tragedy may befall us, ever since the stone was removed from the tomb of Jesus
and He rose from the dead, “there is nowhere to go from here, but up!”
In the midst of the worst moments this life has to offer,
we now live with the
assurance that our sins are forgiven, that God is our helper in times of trouble
and heaven is our home. Because of Easter, the phrase, “There is nowhere to go
from here, but up” is not just wishful thinking, but a reality of God’s
love.
Under the Cross, Mark R. Oien