Well, I meant to write and put this article up before Easter. It's come and gone, though, but I hope this article which will be a blessing to you, anyhow. It's sort of three different ideas I've been pondering about the Easter holiday, so I thought I'd share them with you.
This all sort of began to culminate about a week ago. My wife came home from work with this tract somebody handed her while she was pumping gas at the quick mart. It wasn't a christian tract, though. The lady who had given it to her was obviously a Jehovah's Witness because the back of the tract mentioned the Watchtower Society, which is the governing body for the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was supposed to be an Easter tract, and I suppose the Jehovah Witnesses who have a church in that area of town thought it would be a good idea to hand them out to folks out in the parking lot.
When my wife brought the tract home, she told me to look at it and tell her what was missing. I began to look it over and read it, and then I told her, "the resurrection is missing". It mentioned the death of Jesus, and how He showed his love by giving of his life, but nothing whatsoever was noted about His resurrection. Specific mention was made of the scripture that "no greater love a person can have is to give their life for their friends". The tract went on to ask how the death of Jesus directly affects you and me.
We as Christians do put great importance on Jesus giving His life for us. After all, if it weren't for Jesus' death on the cross, we wouldn't have forgiveness of our sins and be able to live with Him eternally in Heaven. Easter, however, isn't about Jesus' death on the cross. It's about His resurrection. We celebrate that fact that Jesus was raised from the dead by God the Father, and that He is alive. We don't worship a dead man, but a loving God who came in the flesh; He give His life for us and was brought back to life three days later.
I've also been thinking about how Easter is really a holiday of hope. Those people who saw Jesus die on that cross might have thought all hope was lost, but hope was just over the horizon when Jesus came back three days later. We can have peace knowing that even though life is difficult, there is hope because Jesus lives to help us with every facet of our lives. We can rest in the fact that whatever problems we're dealing with in life, He is there for us, whether those problems be physical, emotional, spiritual. Anything. He's the almighty God in the flesh who "was, is, and forever will be".
Lastly, I was listening to the late Adrian Rogers the other day. He is my all-time favorite preacher to listen to. He might be gone, but I know He's enjoying his time with the Lord right now. He had a program I was listening to on the radio last week about the book of Revelation. I don't know if it was being aired because of the Easter holiday, but he was talking about how that John saw Jesus both in all His glory and as the "son of man". Rev. Rogers went on to say that although we acknowledge Jesus is divine, and that He is truly God, He is also truly man at the same time. He's not 50% of each. He's 100% God and 100% man. Might not make sense to us, but the ways of God are not our ways, as the book of Isaiah tells us. Rev. Rogers also said that Jesus didn't cease being a man when His earthly time was over. He's still God, of course, but He will always be a man, too. Right now, Jesus is still both man and God, and when we go into eternity and see Him, he'll still be that same God-man. I thought..."what an awesome thought to know that God loved (and loves) us so much that He would clothe Himself as a man forever just so He could spend eternity with us". He really did live as one of us. He came as a baby, grew up and became a man, and experienced the same emotions and physical aspects of humanity. Who could ever imagine that God would put Himself in our place to help us when He really didn't have to do it? As the Bible tells us, we're just made from the dust of the earth, and are nothing in comparision to Him. Yet He was willing to do it, anyway.
Want to know the God who gave so much of Himself for you and me? Click HERE. He's waiting with open arms to receive you. :)
This all sort of began to culminate about a week ago. My wife came home from work with this tract somebody handed her while she was pumping gas at the quick mart. It wasn't a christian tract, though. The lady who had given it to her was obviously a Jehovah's Witness because the back of the tract mentioned the Watchtower Society, which is the governing body for the Jehovah's Witnesses. It was supposed to be an Easter tract, and I suppose the Jehovah Witnesses who have a church in that area of town thought it would be a good idea to hand them out to folks out in the parking lot.
When my wife brought the tract home, she told me to look at it and tell her what was missing. I began to look it over and read it, and then I told her, "the resurrection is missing". It mentioned the death of Jesus, and how He showed his love by giving of his life, but nothing whatsoever was noted about His resurrection. Specific mention was made of the scripture that "no greater love a person can have is to give their life for their friends". The tract went on to ask how the death of Jesus directly affects you and me.
We as Christians do put great importance on Jesus giving His life for us. After all, if it weren't for Jesus' death on the cross, we wouldn't have forgiveness of our sins and be able to live with Him eternally in Heaven. Easter, however, isn't about Jesus' death on the cross. It's about His resurrection. We celebrate that fact that Jesus was raised from the dead by God the Father, and that He is alive. We don't worship a dead man, but a loving God who came in the flesh; He give His life for us and was brought back to life three days later.
I've also been thinking about how Easter is really a holiday of hope. Those people who saw Jesus die on that cross might have thought all hope was lost, but hope was just over the horizon when Jesus came back three days later. We can have peace knowing that even though life is difficult, there is hope because Jesus lives to help us with every facet of our lives. We can rest in the fact that whatever problems we're dealing with in life, He is there for us, whether those problems be physical, emotional, spiritual. Anything. He's the almighty God in the flesh who "was, is, and forever will be".
Lastly, I was listening to the late Adrian Rogers the other day. He is my all-time favorite preacher to listen to. He might be gone, but I know He's enjoying his time with the Lord right now. He had a program I was listening to on the radio last week about the book of Revelation. I don't know if it was being aired because of the Easter holiday, but he was talking about how that John saw Jesus both in all His glory and as the "son of man". Rev. Rogers went on to say that although we acknowledge Jesus is divine, and that He is truly God, He is also truly man at the same time. He's not 50% of each. He's 100% God and 100% man. Might not make sense to us, but the ways of God are not our ways, as the book of Isaiah tells us. Rev. Rogers also said that Jesus didn't cease being a man when His earthly time was over. He's still God, of course, but He will always be a man, too. Right now, Jesus is still both man and God, and when we go into eternity and see Him, he'll still be that same God-man. I thought..."what an awesome thought to know that God loved (and loves) us so much that He would clothe Himself as a man forever just so He could spend eternity with us". He really did live as one of us. He came as a baby, grew up and became a man, and experienced the same emotions and physical aspects of humanity. Who could ever imagine that God would put Himself in our place to help us when He really didn't have to do it? As the Bible tells us, we're just made from the dust of the earth, and are nothing in comparision to Him. Yet He was willing to do it, anyway.
Want to know the God who gave so much of Himself for you and me? Click HERE. He's waiting with open arms to receive you. :)
0 comments on What Easter Is...and Isn't
Add a comment
To add comments without entering your email and image verification, you must be logged in. Login or Join Blogster
