All About Resurrection

What was considered to be dead is now brought back to life.

A time of personal reflection

Whenever I am reminded of the word resurrection, my mind tends to go towards Easter. As this past Sunday has always reminded me, Jesus Christ died and rose again on the third day. I'm well aware that there are people who don't believe in this truth. Personally, I don't care if you do or don't. As a matter of fact, if you don't like what I'm posting, then don't read any further. Because this post is going to be personal.

Yes, Lone Gold is a place where I conduct business. But since the very beginning, I have always seen Lone Gold as more of a ministry than just another money obsessed enterprise. When you define ministry, the word literally means to serve. However you want to describe Lone Gold, the whole idea is to provide a service that reminds people that they are loved.

Love is more than just a feeling, it's the very reason why we exist today. Understanding what true love is will help shape our faith and inspire our hope. For me, my comprehension of this love came from my acceptance of Jesus as my lord and savior. Without this acceptance, I would have no reason to live.

Before we go any further, I don't want this post to feel like my beliefs have given me super powers or any other form of superiority. I really want you to know who I am and where I am coming from. All I am saying is that my belief in Jesus has given me clarity and nothing more.

Whether you are dealing with myself or anyone associated with Lone Gold, I want you to notice the work that God is doing through us. That means putting our faith into practice, inspiring hope, and more importantly, loving people as we love ourselves. Since that is the hallmark of a healthy ministry, so too shall it be for Lone Gold. Here is how we implement these principles.

Faith

To have faith means having confidence in one's testimony. For people to believe what you are testifying to, you need to have complete trust in what you are saying and doing. You can decree and declare your faith all you want to. But, words alone can only give your faith so much credibility.

By putting our faith to work, we are ensuring that our beliefs are not dead. You can always do philanthropic work such as volunteering your time to non profits, donating money, etc. However, the greatest act of faith may be in the work that you are already doing.

I have never believed that people have to be rich and famous to be living a blessed life. The greatest accomplishment any human being can achieve is being able to provide for the people who depend on them the most. On the one hand, I am talking about those who are in management positions. On the other hand, I am also mentioning those people who are doing the work.

No matter what position you hold in your job, we all have to live as we are called. If you receive any form of recognition, that's great. But, if all you are doing is providing the essentials that you and your family needs, then that is an achievement greater than any accolade you will ever receive.

The whole idea of faith is not reliant on what you do for a living or how many resources you have accumulated. Faith is determined by how genuine your words and actions are. As a tree is known by its fruit, so are we by how we live our lives.

Hope

When we expect something good to happen, it does not automatically mean that we are optimists by default. As a matter of fact, we are willing to endure the hardships in order for that good outcome to come to fruition. If you have lived anywhere on this planet for a while, you will notice that good and bad events always happen. With that said, if you keep doing the good work, hope will have a fighting chance.

Hope is more than just a great expectation, it is the positive outcome that we all desire. It is tempting to be apathetic whenever someone says "this too shall pass". For hope to be realized, we need to fight the good fight to make it all possible.

This is not a call to violence, but rather a call to action. Fighting is not always putting up your fists to inflict damage on someone else. In most cases, you fight back by keeping your faith as active as humanly possible. When your faith is dead, your hope is too.

All I can tell you is that no one person is in control of the overall outcome. However, we are in control of how we respond. Whether we get the results we are looking for or not, the events that are happening presently are working for our good. The question we all have to answer is how hard are we going to have to work to keep hope alive.

Love

I'll say this again, love has always been more than just a feeling, it is the reason why we all exist. There is no denying the feeling of ecstasy when someone says the words "I love you". There's nothing wrong with wanting that feeling. But once that initial high wears off, we want tend to return to our sinful habits and end up back at square one. As a result, we wind up compromising our core beliefs to feel that high again and again.

The truth of the matter is this, everything changes, love does not. Love is not some magic elixir that cures all our ills. Nor is love some word we use to puff ourselves up psychologically. True love, by definition, goes so deep and so wide that it is impossible to find enough words to provide a perfect description. In other words, we can define love to the best of our abilities, but it's only in part.

Regardless of how any one person defines the word love, the overall point is that love has always been here and has never forsaken us. As a result, love has never failed us and never will. No matter how far along you are in your life, take comfort in that fact. You can be old or young, religious or not, the bottom line is that you are loved and have been loved this entire time.

Love is the greatest gift that we have ever received. It is the reason why we are able to experience the ecstasy and agony of our lives. When we understand true love, we know that agony only lasts for a season. The best way to keep agony at bay is to keep your faith at work and you will never lose your hope. Without this gift, these seasons of great suffering never seem to go fast enough.

Conclusion

As the Easter holiday has come to a close, the message of resurrection has not. The whole point of this post is not force you to convert to Christianity. Hopefully, you will do that according to your own free will. What my desire for you is in this post is to identify what you thought was dead and bring it back to life.

Whether or not you want to accept what I'm saying is helpful will be left totally up to you. I am fully aware that what I believe brings division. But, if we are all living in the truth, we will always have a way to come together. Again, my hope for Lone Gold is to be a ministry that reminds people they are loved no matter what.

If you are wanting to know more about faith, hope, and love in Jesus, find a good bible based church that actually doesn't put their own spin on scriptures. You can always buy a hard copy of the bible or download the app on your device. There are no shortages of resources to help you along your journey.

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful Easter and Passover season. May God bless you and those who are around you.

Aaron Phillips

CEO/President/Founder

Lone Gold