4/10/2009 - Is Easter Just Another Day?

Quiet Time 4-10-09:  Is Easter Just Another Day?

For many people Easter is just another day.  For many people Easter means time off work or out of school.  For many people Easter brings chocolate bunnies, colored eggs, new clothes and family meals.  For many people Easter is about lilies & orchids and the once or twice a year church visit.  There is not necessarily anything wrong with any of these things that Easter means to many people.

Many people also recognize that Easter is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Certainly that is good.  I believe there will be many people that will be in Church on Easter Sunday and will believe Jesus was crucified on the cross and rose from the dead.  As great as that sounds, my heart is heavy for those many people that are on there way to hell believing just that (Stick with me and hear me out please). 

It doesn’t take faith to believe in our mind that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.  That is simply history.  There are written accounts and evidence to support the facts for this event that happened almost 2000 years ago.  We have history books and evidence to support things that happened long before and are perhaps even harder to believe.  What does require faith is believing in my heart that God loves me so much that he sent his only true son to die on the cross for my sins and that by confessing that belief with my mouth I have the free gift of everlasting life.  Receiving God’s grace through that faith is how Christians are different from many people.  I say Christians meaning . . .  well, I won’t go there, maybe that will be for next week; but I suggest that if Christians are not different from many people they may not be Christians.

My hope, my peace, my joy comes from knowing in my heart that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior because God loves me enough that by grace he sent his precious Son to be crucified for my sins and just as Christ was resurrected from the dead I have new and everlasting life.  But even in this new life as a new creation I still sin daily and my sins nail Christ to the cross daily; praise God he provides daily resurrection from these sins.  It is for that reason that Easter should be just another day.  The celebration of the resurrection of our Savior should be a daily event and one that Christians share with many people.  I pray that for many people this Easter may be a time of new life, a time that the old life is left behind.  “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14 (New Living Translation)

. . . make smart choices, love everybody, be a blessing, I love you and have a great day.