It’s Costly to Come Alive

When we created t-shirts for our church four years ago, we printed the slogan ‘Come Alive!’ in recognition of our official title, ‘The Church of the Resurrection’.

Last year’s hit movie ‘The Greatest Showman’ featured a song with the same title, in which the singers celebrate their decision to leave their unhappy life to ‘come alive’ as members of the circus.

The song describes how each of them were once a “dead man walking” but that they have heard the call to “come alive, go and ride your light, let it burn so bright!”

They have experienced a transformation so they can be “dreaming with their eyes wide open.”

The movie is a delightful tale of how their life has gone from sadness to joy as they hear the call to leave the security of their past to experience a new life full of both excitement and uncertainty.

It struck me how the life of these circus performers is like the Christian life.

It is costly to follow Jesus, and we know it won’t always be easy.

That is why Jesus invited people to “take up their cross and follow me.”

Yet, even though the cross represented pain and death, Jesus showed that after his death, he came alive.

And because he came alive, it meant that he defeated sin and death, and brought a guarantee of eternal life to everyone who truly follows him.

And so as followers of Christ Jesus, we await his return or our going to be with him, and we look forward to when we will fully experience what it means to come alive in Christ.

For in Heaven we will be able to sing:

When the world becomes a fantasy

And you’re more than you could ever be

‘Cause you’re dreaming with your eyes wide open.

JODIE McNEILL

(The song ‘Come Alive’ was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul)