73: Resurrection Hope For Real Life

When the news cycle feels relentless and your to‑do list won’t quit, what does it really look like to live with resurrection hope? We explore a grounded, practical faith that faces anxiety and weariness without flinching, anchored in the promise that death is defeated and God keeps His word. From Jesus’ words in John 16 to the strong assurance of John 10, we trace how Scripture reframes our days: we don’t strive for God’s love, we respond to finished work; we don’t chase worth, we receive grace; we don’t fear the future, we remember whose hand holds us.

We share honest moments of doubt—like worrying about housing or feeling stuck in disappointment—and then walk through four simple practices to course‑correct: confess unbelief, replace lies with the Bible, speak resurrection truth out loud, and use gratitude as warfare. Along the way, we reflect on Holy Week with thoughtful questions you can journal or pray: Where do you feel hopeless? What seems beyond repair? That reflection becomes fuel for bold prayer and patient trust. We also unpack why “Friday is good because Sunday is coming” captures the heart of Christian hope—pain is real, but it is not the end of the story.

This conversation is tender and practical. We talk about parenting with gentleness, working with excellence, and treating ordinary tasks as worship because nothing done in the Lord is in vain. If you need a fresh reminder that you are secure in Christ and invited to live from victory, you’ll find courage here to keep going with steady joy. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review telling us which truth you’re speaking out loud this week.

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Transcript

Remembering God’s Sovereignty

Post‑Resurrection Security In Christ

Defining Resurrection Hope

Living From Victory, Not For It

Holy Week Reflection Questions

Leanne Tuggle 0:50

Friends, in honor of Holy Week, I wanted to take a minute and kind of discuss what it means to live with resurrection hope. Like what does that mean? Our current headlines often make us feel like the world is completely hopeless. You can scroll social media and start to question what is true, what is right, and what is good. And we start to wonder if maybe the world is just too depraved, and maybe it's even beyond saving. And it is in these moments that I think we forget. We forget that the God of the universe, the God who parted the Red Sea, who rescued Daniel from the mouths of lions, that same God is in control today. And his plans for the world are still happening exactly as he intended. What surprises or overwhelms or worries us is not a surprise to God. Nothing is too overwhelming for him, and he never worries or is anxious. But friends, the news gets even better. Even before he said, let there be light in Genesis 1, God knew Jesus was going to come to earth and be our Savior. And God created us anyway. Even though he knew we would sin, even though he knew we would be prone to wander and to reject him over and over and over again, he still chooses to love us. My daughter and I were listening to the radio in the car the other day, and Matthew West's song, Good, came on. And the main lyric that is played over and over again says, I'm not loved because I'm worthy. I'm loved because you're good. Honestly, this is such a good song for a couple of firstborn daughters. But it's also such an amazing message of grace. Like, wow, it truly leaves me speechless. And yet, despite all of this truth, that God is good and mighty and sovereign, and he created us simply because he wanted to be in relationship with us. So often we walk around as if the resurrection didn't happen. Well, what do I mean by this? We have the blessing of living in the post-resurrection state. And we also get to know how the story ends. God wins. And those who choose Jesus have been eternally secured. Like he says in John 10, 28, this is one of my absolute favorite verses. He says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. That kind of security and love is available for us as believers. But then I do something like worry about whether or not we're going to find a house in our next location when we move. We spend so many of our days worried and anxious and honestly kind of stuck in the middle of this unbelief. We're like the father in Mark 9, who comes to Jesus with his sick child and says, But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help. To which Jesus replies in verse 23, If you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Perhaps we also need to say, like what this father did in Mark 9, 24, and say, I believe, help my unbelief. What does it mean to live each day in the hope of the resurrection? And how do we fully embrace what saying he is risen really means? This is what I want us to unpack and talk about today. And first, we have to consider what does resurrection hope even mean? It's a very Christian-y language to use, but what does it mean? Resurrection hope is confidence that death is defeated, and it's the assurance that sin doesn't get the final word. Praise the Lord. Jesus explains it this way in John 16, 32 and 33, when he says, Behold, the hour is coming, and indeed it has come when you will be scattered each to his own house and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. And he said this before he went to the cross, because once again, this was always the plan. God was always going to defeat death, and Jesus was always going to be the perfect sacrifice so that our sins could be forgiven. The resurrection is proof of God's plan being fulfilled through the precious blood of Jesus. It's also proof that God keeps his promises. Nothing takes us away from the plan that God has already intended. As believers, this means we get to live from victory, not for it. We do not need to strive every day to try to earn God's love. We simply get to respond to the finished work of Jesus. We can worship God and enjoy Him even on this side of heaven, because the tomb is empty. We don't wake up every morning feeling defeated. Instead, we fight sin from a place of grace. We repent quickly because shame no longer defines us. And every day we can walk in obedience with no reason to fear, because God always has our best interests in mind. And again, I think of that song. It's because he is good, not anything that we did, but because he is good. I think of Holy Week as sort of an opportunity to be reflective and to think about all that Jesus did and has already done so that we can enjoy closeness to him, with him, to him, to remember that the veil was torn and I am no longer separated from God. This week, I want to invite you and me to do some personal reflection, to consider these questions, maybe as you open your Bible, or perhaps as you journal these thoughts. Where do you feel hopelessness right now? What areas in your life feel beyond repair? And once you have thought about that or prayed through it or even written them down, written your answers down, pray boldly. Wait patiently on the Lord and trust that God is good. I don't know your story specifically, and I don't know what burdens you carry right now in this season. But I do know that most of us do carry hurt and sadness. We have worry and stress. We may even have unrealized dreams. There might be marital challenges. Maybe you have children who aren't walking with the Lord. Or maybe you're just tired and worn out. You might feel discouraged. But resurrection hope says this is not the end of the story. Apparently, I'm in a praise and worship mood today because another song comes to mind when I think about what it means to have resurrection hope. You've probably heard the song by Phil Wickham and the lyric that says, Friday is good because Sunday is coming. I remember as a child, I always kind of wondered why we called it Good Friday. I mean, being crucified on a cross sounded like a pretty bad day to me. But Friday is good because it's not the end of the story. Whatever hopelessness you are wrestling with right now isn't the end of the story. Sunday is coming. Both in the sense that Jesus already defeated all of the sadness and badness, but also that he is coming again. And when he does, there will be no more hopelessness at all. That's not to say that your worries and difficulties are not valid. Again, in John 16, Jesus acknowledged that we will have trials and tribulations, but it also means that because of him, we can forgive because we have been forgiven. We can choose joy when circumstances are heavy, just like it says in James 1, 2, and 3, that we can count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. We also get to steward our homes or our work, our words with purpose, because the resurrection changes how we live. We can pursue holiness because we are alive in Him. What a mercy! And yet the reality of living in our world today is that we so easily fall back into that unbelief. We doubt, we fear, we forget. We live as if anxiety is stronger than God, or that our circumstances override the truth that we know from the Bible. So if you, like me, see the unbelief as trying to steal the hope that you have in Christ, here are four things that I think that we can practically do to sort of course-correct or surrender. The first is that we can confess areas of unbelief. And we need to do this honestly, really truly, ask the Lord to search your heart. Am I struggling with unbelief right now? And then number two, we want to replace the lies with truth from scripture. And the only way to do that is to be in the word. Number three, speak resurrection truth out loud. Declare out loud what Jesus has already done for you. Remember, don't forget what he has already accomplished. And number four, practice gratitude as warfare against doubt. On Easter Sunday, we can say, He is risen, he is risen indeed. And we can say this as sort of this celebration, this fun thing that we can say to one another to acknowledge this resurrection hope. Because he is risen, we have courage that God's plan is still going strong. And we can have endurance, like it says in Hebrews 12:1, to run the race set before us. We can also be faithful with our ordinary because as Lamentations 3, 22, and 23 says, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, and his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. So this week, as you go about your ordinary tasks, like folding laundry, you can worship God. When you lead your children, you can do so with gentleness. You can embrace excellence with your work. Live as a woman who truly believes death has already been defeated. The resurrection is not just a season, it is daily, it is personal, and it is powerful. He is risen, and because he lives, we can lay down our unbelief, we can pick up our courage, and we can walk in obedience. Let's remember to act like it. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, be immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Friends, I wish you the happiest Easter, and I pray that you can go forth from now and live out that resurrection hope.