Easter
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God saved us and chose us to be his holy people, but not because of anything we ourselves did. God saved us and made us his people because that was what he wanted and because of his grace. That grace was given to us through Christ Jesus before time began. - 2 Timothy 1:9
Sometimes, I feel like I should be doing more, like I am not doing enough, not working hard enough, giving of myself enough. There’s got to be more that I can do.
Take Easter for example. I feel like I should be doing more. Make it bigger and better. Strive harder. Pack more in.
I feel like I have to earn it (whatever earn it, is.)
Easter, the day we celebrate our risen Savior, is a day of grace. A day that God chose to give us His Son in new life so we could have new life. Our hope, everything our faith is built on, is the resurrection, and it all came about because of grace.
This is what He wanted. He wanted to give His Son for us. He wants to save us. He wants to make us His people. He wants to give us new life in Christ. Easter is about what God wanted to do – not what we have to do. It’s what He has already done for us.
So, what can we do about grace at Easter?
3 things.
- We can receive it. We can’t earn it. Just like any other gift, it is our choice to receive it or not. We can choose to receive the gift of Jesus. Just sit back and say, “What an amazing thing the resurrection is, and He did it for us!”
- We can be thankful for it. That’s key. Gratitude should be part of every Easter. We should be thankful for what God did through Christ. It should be a day of over-the-top gratitude that God would choose to treat us this way. It’s an amazing gift.
- We can celebrate it. That is what Easter is all about, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. It gives us hope, meaning, purpose, and life. My plan is to really celebrate Easter this year. Not all the other stuff so much, but the resurrection of the One who died for us, His defeat of death and the grave, and the promises He kept that day. I am going to celebrate the joy He makes possible and the hope of heaven and eternal life. There is more to life than what we can see in the day to day. We can celebrate Him every day – just having Him in our life. He in us and we in Him. That is worth celebrating.
At Bridges we are going to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter. I hope you will join us and celebrate with us. I hope the day fills you with joy. I hope you feel the presence of God as we celebrate together. I hope you will invite someone to join us for Easter. Above all, I hope you experience the grace of God’s goodness.