The Joy of Easter and the Love of GOD

Happy Easter.  The day that we celebrate the only thing that could have possibly saved us from our sin…A Savior.  The Son of GOD.  The fulfillment of every prophecy and the only perfect sacrifice.  The GOD of the universe who became human and died on the Cross for the glory of God the Father and to save us.

There are a lot of difficult things going on everywhere in the world and in Haiti in particular.  It can be so easy to get caught up in those difficulties and in the complication that is life at the expense of the simple truth of Easter.  The simple truth that, as sinners, we were dead in our transgressions with no hope of life but we were saved by the blood of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.  It is a simple and beautiful truth, but it is such a messy truth too.

If you are a follower of Christ you are probably tired of people trying to describe and defend our faith with quick sayings and gimmicky slogans.  Our faith is messy.  GOD actually had to die just to give us the ability to even have faith.  Not to mention the way that He died was too horrific to accurately describe.  If the author and perfecter of our faith had to be tortured and killed just to have a relationship with us, then it makes sense that faith would be hard, that it would be messy, and that it would tough to put into words.

But, at the same time, look at the simple beauty of what GOD did for us on the Cross.  Our faith is messy, His sacrifice was not.  Sure, it was messy in the sense of how it happened and the actual physical nature of His death on the Cross.  That part was incredibly messy.  But the actual sacrifice was the simplest, most beautiful form of love we have ever seen or ever known.  It is something that could never be duplicated.

The best news of all…His sacrifice did not end in death.  The hope that we have is that Jesus is not dead, He’s alive…Forever.  As messy as our faith can be sometimes, there is one place that our faith should lead us:  The foot of the Cross.  Our celebration today is in Him rising.  If He were still dead our faith is meaningless and our devotion to His Word is foolish.  His resurrection changed everything.

So, today let’s celebrate.  Let’s celebrate the fact that GOD had the power to overtake death and the grave.  But the funny thing about our celebration is that it should lead us straight to our knees and right back to the foot of the Cross.  Today is not just a day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection in church and then go eat lunch and hunt for eggs.  Today is a day that we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and ask Him to give us the the desire, the faith, and the power to imitate Him in everything…His life, His death, and His resurrection!