By Scot Thigpen

A Living Sacrifice

 

Easter 1932, during the Great Depression, Alfred Henry “A.H” Ackley was doing what all of us should do during the season of Lent. And what resulted was his composition of the hymn, He Lives. Scripture reveals the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The facts of his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension are disclosed in this Holy Writ.

 

A.H. Ackley gives personal testimony to these truths in which I am pleased to share again for Easter 2017, knowing for sure that there is about to be a bunch of “Amens” from you and others who share this same testimony.

 

 

 

Oh the power and glorification given to God of a personal testimony. It is our response to the gospel that counts. The Eucharist liturgy says it like this. “In remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith. Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”

 

I don’t know how many Easters you have experienced in your lifetime. This Easter marks my 52nd. My personal prayer and prayer for the church is that we all walk out differently than when we walked in. That we all, as A.H. Ackley did, bear personal testimony to the truth of the gospel in our lives. That we do rejoice at the finished work of Christ. That we have the personal assurance that He lives because He lives within our hearts. That with praise and thanksgiving, we may offer our lives as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ.

 

Christians all over the world will gather this Easter to celebrate Christ’s victory over death and his resurrection. We will confidently affirm that Christ has died, Christ has risen, but there is more—CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN! And so, in the full certainty of that, let us live as Easter people, every day of our lives, in response to the greatest day mankind has ever known. Jesus promised he would return, but also says in Matthew 24, “But about that day or hour, no man knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

 

Until then, as Easter people, our response to live as a living sacrifice will be—AMEN!

 

Happy Easter!

 

Scot Thigpen is president of The Thigpen Group, a Wealth Advisory Firm in Jackson, MS. He is married to the former Kimberly Inkster and they are parents of two sons and attend Christ United Methodist Church. Contact Scot at Scot@thethigpengroup.com.