Life is a race. We have to run it. And like any race, it has its difficulties and agonizing moments. How do we get through them? In a race, you keep your eyes on the finish line. In the race of life, we keep our eyes on Jesus. The sufferings God allows along the way will make us stronger. Our Heavenly Father wants what is best for us, and wants us to finish the race even more than we do! Jesus is the way! Jesus is our finish line! He finished everything for us by running his race to the cross for us. He made it possible for us to experience that joy with Him! Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus!

As the saying goes, there are only two things you can count on in life: death and taxes. No matter how well your life goes or how awful it goes, death is something we all face as human beings. Escape from pain in this life is only temporary. We need something better to look forward to. God is better than anything life gives us or death can take away from us. We have the one thing that can give us what we need: the resurrection of Jesus! Because He lives, we will live! Christianity gives us something more than a story! It gives us an actual person raised from the dead. And He, Jesus, gives us the certainty of resurrection! He is our resurrection!

Living the Christian life isn’t just about trying to be good or trying to do better. That will just lead to frustration. We have to understand how serious a problem we have. Guilt and shame are real, and without Jesus, we have no way to deal with guilt or shame. The only way to pay for guilt is with sacrifice. Forgiveness always costs… someone has to pay. The awesome thing about our God is that He doesn’t demand our blood but offers his own. Jesus offered his own life to sacrifice for us. Once and for all. A sacrifice made on our behalf is what makes us what to “be good and do better” to experience the joy in life God wants us to have! The only thing that will give us complete rest is knowing Jesus loved us enough to be our sacrifice!

Life can be a kind of “trial” in which you are trying to prove to others and yourself that you are good. We so desperately need to know what we look like and how we measure up when compared to others. That’s why we need an advocate, someone who can speak for us. Jesus is the advocate we need. He doesn’t plead our case to God. He demands justice for us from God because He already made the payment for us. Jesus gives you a completely new identity. He removes all guilt from your life. He gives you a way to deal with discouragement and disappointment. And gives you a joy and courage to approach life with! If your advocate wins, you win! Because Jesus wins, we win!

We live in one of the most workaholic cultures in history. Technology makes it possible for us to work around the clock. We never escape our work. We get our identity, value, and worth from our work. It is hard for us to get real rest. Even when we take “vacations,” our focus and thoughts are on what we should be doing. God created us as human beings who need rest. Real rest is important. Real rest is a declaration of freedom from slavery. Real rest is being able to put something down because you are satisfied with it. Our sinful nature makes it impossible to have real rest. The only thing that can give us real rest is Jesus. In the same way a shepherd enables his sheep to rest, our Good Shepherd makes it possible for us to have true rest. Come to Him!

A brother is someone who will come and help you, even when it isn’t safe for him to do so. When life gets difficult, let’s fix our eyes on our greatest brother, Jesus. He is our brother who came to help us, even at the cost of his life. A brother stands in front of your bully for you, fights your fight for you, puts himself between you and your enemy, even puts his life on the line for you. Jesus did this as our brother! But even better, He defeated death for us! He rose again! He is the One who has our back! And He’s not ashamed to be called your “Brother.” He’s proud of it! No matter what you’ve done! It doesn’t matter what the world says about you. You have a brother who’s proud of you!

Life isn’t always easy. It’s like being on a difficult journey, looking forward to rest. Along the way, we need to know we aren’t alone. We need to know someone is with us. It is so helpful to hear someone’s voice… to know you aren’t alone. Jesus is how we know we aren’t alone. Jesus is how God lets us know He is with us. Jesus is how God speaks to us. He’s the first and last thing we need. The final Word from God. He isn’t like anything else that promises it can help us through this life. We can’t treat Him the same. Jesus is God talking to us. Jesus doesn’t tell us how to get to God. Jesus is the way to God. The resurrected, living, Word of God! The last word from God we’ll ever need.

We spend so much energy trying to squeeze everything out of this life—more success, more experiences, more meaning—hoping it will finally feel like enough. But “more” always runs out. The world feels fractured and loud, trust is thin, and we’re expected to curate a life that looks put-together even when it isn’t. Add sickness, loss, and the reality that life ends, and it’s easy to feel worn down and hopeless.

Easter interrupts all of that. Jesus’ resurrection means death doesn’t get the final word, and our lives aren’t measured by how much we managed to pack in. Because He lives, our future is secure—and that changes life right now. This is not the end. In Christ, it’s the beginning of a life that can’t be taken away.