In 1873, Horatio Spafford received a telegram from his wife that read simply: “Saved alone.”
His four daughters had just drowned when the ship they were on sank in the Atlantic. He had sent them ahead to Europe while he wrapped up business in Chicago, business already devastated after the Great Fire two years earlier.
As he crossed the ocean, burdened by unimaginable pain, to join his grieving wife, Spafford passed over the very spot where the boat that had carried his daughters had been swallowed by the depth of the Ocean. And it was there, over the deep waters of unspeakable sorrow, that he wrote the words:
“When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
How does someone write that? How does a person see through so much pain?
The answer, I believe, is Easter.
Easter is about more than what happened to Jesus. It is about what Jesus provided through the pain he endured. The resurrection is not merely an event to be celebrated, but a life we are all invited to live. It’s the humbling promise that even when everything seems lost, the story is not over. It’s the assurance that what feels like the end is often the beginning of something eternal.
Pain Is Not the End
Have you ever had to live through Good Friday moments? Days when it feels like hope is gone, when the silence of Saturday stretches endlessly? Have you ever been to a place in your life where resurrection just didn’t seem like an option?
You’re not alone. The disciples knew that feeling too. They watched Jesus take his last breath. They saw the tomb sealed shut. Jesus’ death was not wrapped up in a neat little story in an old book, it was final. Their hope had died with Jesus on that cross.
But then, something happened that no one expected: Jesus woke up. Not just alive again but glorified and somehow more alive. Not just revived, but victorious. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:54, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
The resurrection story starts in pain, the pain of uncertainty, hopelessness, and death. But it is also a story about the other side of pain, redemption. When Jesus walked out of the grave, he made it known that pain is not the end of the story. Resurrection doesn’t erase pain; it redeems it.
Perseverance with a Purpose
The road to resurrection always passes through some kind of suffering. Jesus did not avoid the cross he willingly endured it. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.” He pressed through the pain of isolation, the weight of our sin, and separation from the Father because he saw what was on the other side, the reconciliation of a broken world.
Endurance is a part of life. You will have to endure loss, boredom, vices, broken relationships, confusion, uncertainty, and on and on. There is no opting out of the suffering that comes with being alive. Jesus set a glittering example of how to persevere with purpose through suffering. Romans 5:3–4 reminds us, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” The point is not to glorify sufferings in their own right, but to put them in their proper context. Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that suffering is temporary, and there is life beyond death.
There are many reasons to persevere (life is worth living, you are loved, you are not replaceable, to name a few), but Jesus shows us the fruit of perseverance. We are not meant to persevere to merely get by, but to be reborn.
Selfless Love Is the Way Forward
Jesus didn’t just rise from the grave; he walked willingly into it. His resurrection was only possible because he laid his life down first. Philippians 2 says, “being in very nature God… he made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant… he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.” (vv. 6–8)
That kind of love was self-emptying, sacrificial, and undeserved. This kind of commitment runs counter to the values of self-promotion and self-protection we see most prominently today. But Jesus shows us that selfless love isn’t weakness; it is love’s true form.
In a world fractured by fear, cynicism, and selfishness, we are in need of a people willing to love like Jesus. To forgive, to serve, to carry burdens that aren’t their own. This is more than moralism it’s resurrection living. That’s what it means to take up your cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23).
A New Lease on Life
The resurrection means we are no longer defined by our worst days, our past mistakes, or our current circumstances. In Christ, we are made new. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
This is practical kind of lived wisdom. The resurrection life that Jesus gave as a gift can only be known by putting into practice. I’m not talking about checking boxes to prove something to God or others. I am talking about your outlook on suffering, your perseverance through pain, your peace in uncertainty. Can you rely on the resurrection when life feels like one death after the other? Can you continue to hold on to the hope of God when you feel like letting go. Will you trust God with your shame and sin and walk humbly with his forgiveness? If yes, then you know the spirit of the resurrection. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us (Romans 8:11). That means resurrection isn’t just about where we go when we die it’s about how we live while we’re alive.
That’s a new lease on life. That’s Easter.
Live the Resurrection
Maybe today you’re in a place like Horatio Spafford was grieving, disoriented, searching for air in a sea of sorrow. Or maybe you’re walking through a quieter kind of death; the slow fade of a dream, the ache of loneliness, the fatigue of perseverance.
Wherever you are, the empty tomb is speaking.
It’s saying: This isn’t the end.
It’s saying: Love still wins.
It’s saying: Because Jesus lives, you can live too.
So don’t let Easter end on Sunday.
Live the resurrection.
When you wake up Monday morning.
When your patience is tested.
When your faith is stretched.
When someone needs your help.
When your heart feels like it’s breaking again.
Let the truth of Jesus’ resurrection shape your every step. Because the one who conquered the grave is still giving new life.
By Brandon Gilliam
