This Is the Day

In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a local TV weatherman trapped in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, forced to re-live Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, over and over again. At first, when he realizes what's happening, he lives each day as if there are no consequences to his actions. Then, he discovers that the only way the cycle will ever be broken is if he betters himself, becomes a nicer person, and of course, falls in love with Andie MacDowell's character. So, he begins helping old ladies change tires, learns to play the piano, gets coffee and donuts for his cameraman, and even "adopts" a homeless man that is about to die, all in an effort to become better and break the cycle of living that one day over and over again.

Today is the Saturday in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In many ways it's kind of "limbo" day for believers. On Good Friday, Christ bore the wrath of God, took on my sin, and made it possible for me to have a right standing before God. In other words, he made me righteous before the Father. On Easter Sunday, by his resurrection, he made victory over the sin in my life certain, defeated death, and made healing (of all kind) possible in this life as it will be certain in the next.

So, how does this tie in with Groundhog Day? Well, here's the thing: so often I find myself living over and over again, the Saturday in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I know that my sins have been taken care, and I believe that I have a right standing before God because of what happened yesterday, but so much of the time, I do not live in the victory that is mine as a result of what will happen tomorrow. (Hope you followed that. I realize the metaphor makes for some clumsiness here!) In other words, I live like my sins are forgiven but not like they're defeated. I trust that the emotional and mental and physical pains of this earth will one day be completely wiped away, but I hold out little faith that it could actually happen here on earth. And so over and over and over again, I re-live my own version of Groundhog Day, without hope, without victory, and in defeat, and this affects the way I pray, share my faith, and think about my sin.

For the disciples and followers of Christ while he was on earth, Saturday was a very hopeless day. They had watched him die, and even though they knew something significant happened during those hours on Friday, they really didn't get what it was. They thought the world had come to and end. You can imagine their demeanor. Dejected. Discouraged. Questioning. And yet that's where I find myself so much of the time. The difference is, I've never known a time when Sunday didn't come! I've never lived in a world where historically or exponentially all the things that happened when Christ rose from the grave were true and in place. So, what's my excuse? Why do I love to live this day over and over again? Part of it is, that this life can be discouraging and sin which seems to never go away can get me down. Part of it is, I just like to be sad sometimes, because it feels good and is in its own way a painkiller from the realities of this life. But I think there's something fundamentally wrong with living Saturday over and over again.

Just like Bill Murray's character longed to do whatever it took to break the cycle and get on to the next day, my prayer today is that I would long to live in the power and victory of Christ's resurrection. That I would choose what some call the "victorious Christian life," which I really just think is the normal and right Christian life. One in which the sin I'm fighting has already been defeated and there is hope that I actually, really could see victory over it in big ways on this earth. One in which I don't dismiss the pain I see around me, but I also realize that there is real, actual healing that can occur, and I pray, think, and hope that way. For me, unlike the character in the movie, it's not about doing enough good things. It's about believing rightly the truth of this weekend. And being very careful about which day I choose to re-live.