The True Meaning Of Easter

Brightly colored eggs, chocolate bunnies, jellybeans, and the Easter Bunny! What a fun time of year! These things make us child-like at heart and bring us plenty of smiles. These things can be exciting and harmless...IF we know and celebrate the TRUE meaning of Easter in our hearts.

So what is Easter really? Baskets, candy, bunnies, fuzzy baby chicks, and pretty pastel decorations? That is the commercialized view of it, and many peoples' focus of this holiday. But what is the TRUE meaning of Easter? Why do we celebrate this holiday each year? Well, if you are a Christian as I am, you might recognize some of the reasons I am about to share. And if you aren't, I hope you gain a little bit of insight as to the real reason we should celebrate by giving praise to Jesus on this wonderful holiday!

Just as those fuzzy chicks hatch out of their egg shells into new life, Easter commemorates much the same thing for us. Jesus was resurrected on the third day after his crucifixion, which entailed three hours of incomprehensible torture. This was the willful condemnation and death for our human sins. But on the third day...Easter Day...Jesus arose from the grave to life again! Jesus' death on the cross marked the final sacrifice for human sin, and his blood gave us complete forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus was blameless and without sin, the only perfect human, yet he bore all of the sacrifice for us. He was resurrected on the third day in his human body and appeared on the earth for 40 days, then ascended into Heaven to take his rightful place and watch over us.

At Jesus' crucifixion he was mocked, ridiculed, and spit on. God's name was blasphemed! Jesus endured repeated beatings, whippings that caused his flesh to rip away from his body, a crown of thorns that punctured and gashed his head, a spear driven through his side, spikes driven into each of his palms, and his feet crossed over one another and nailed together with a single spike.  To rest meant torturous pain for Jesus as the spikes pulled and dug into him. So he switched back and forth between arching his back and pushing up on the spike in his feet in order to gain each breath. He was then forced to walk with the enormous wooden cross on his back until he could bear the pain and weight no longer. Then, men carried the cross the rest of the way to Golgotha, where Jesus died. He was tortured so intensely that that when there was no more blood to pour out, Jesus poured out only water from his wounds.

Jesus was placed in a tomb and the entrance to the tomb was covered by a large stone. On the third day (Sunday) when the women came to anoint Jesus' body, an earthquake took place and the stone was rolled away. Jesus' body was gone. He was risen and he ate and drank with the people. His resurrected body was different than his human body. He could transcend locked doors, but yet could still eat and be touched like you and I.

Jesus endured more than any of us could ever imagine. Yet he was blameless, and none of us deserve the sacrifice he has made. So I ask you today...if Jesus would be so willing to die for all of our sins and iniquities because of the perfect love he has for mankind and his desire to carry out God's plan, what are we willing to do? For our church? For our family? For our friends? For our neighbors? For our communities? For those suffering or less fortunate? And the most important question of all...what are we willing to do for God's glory? We do not deserve the benefits of the sacrifice Jesus made, yet the Lord deserves all. How will we live our lives for Him, how will we walk in Jesus' image, and what will drive us to truly celebrate Easter this year? We need to remember that it is about Jesus, not about us. Because without Jesus, there is no us.

Give thanks to Jesus, give praise to God, and remember how blessed and forgiven you are this holiday season. What we are asked to give is nothing in comparison to what Jesus has already given us. What will YOU give?

In God's Arms.....

We are human, we are imperfect, we make mistakes, we sin, and we regret. But through all of that which we continue to do over, and over, and over...God's arms are always the same. They are wide open, waiting for our return, and yearning to hold us close. Sometimes we can be stubborn and rebel, sometimes we feel unworthy, and sometimes we just plain lose hope. There is one being who NEVER is stubborn, NEVER rebels, NEVER feels unworthy, and NEVER loses hope. Would that not be the most wonderful one to follow? One who makes no mistakes, acts only out of love, and always forgives. Can we say that about any human? No, we cannot. So why do we follow humans, why do we try to fit in so desperately, and why do we care what other humans think of us and our ways?

It is part of our imperfect nature that we must struggle against every single day, in everything that we do. There is only one place we can go where we know that there are never mistakes made, we will be forgiven no matter how we falter, we are beautiful and perfect just as we are, and where we are loved unconditionally. That is only in God's loving arms...and in the shelter of His heart. Christ died for us...because the Lord loves us, feels we are worthy, and wants our praise. We owe all to Him, for without Him...nothing is possible. We simply need to open our arms...and ask Him to wrap us up in His.