Celebrating Easter

                                             

I was at Walmart a couple of years ago, picking up some Easter candy and craft projects for our grandchildren.  The checker said, "Is it just me, or are all the holidays becoming more commercialized?"

My first thought was, "Are you just noticing?"  It does seem there are very few occasions for which Hallmark doesn't have a card.  Decorations are in the marketplace for all kinds of "special days."   Some holidays are secular, but others are holy days. How easily we can get caught up in the marketing and 'stuff" and forget the glorious reasons to celebrate holy days!

When I taught Sunday school to grade school children, I would ask why we celebrate Christmas and Easter.  Most often the answer was, "That is when Santa" or "the Easter bunny" comes.  Upon pressing them, we would eventually get around to the correct answer.  Most knew, but that wasn't what they thought of first.  What do we think of first?

I Peter 3:18 says. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,"

Good Friday and Easter are days that changed history forever.  For those who believe the Bible, it was an event that ended the need for sacrifices and atonement for sins.  Jesus died on the cross as our Savior, a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, He was the promised Messiah.  He paid for our sins with his blood and horrific death on the cross.

Luke 24: 1-6 states our reason to celebrate Easter: "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.   In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!"

Why is the death of Jesus different?  He didn't stay in the grave. On the first Easter morning, he physically came back to life. The lives of those who have embraced Jesus as their Savior have changed forever.  This fact is unique to Christianity. The founders of other faiths are still in their graves.

No one loves the decorations, fun and family time of Easter more than I, but I find it necessary to bring myself mentally to a quiet place and reflect on His great sacrifice for me and that wonderful day when He was resurrected assuring eternal life through faith in Him.  John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'."

John 3:16 shows up in sports stadiums and arenas everywhere but I wonder how many don't know what it says and take time to look it up.  It says,  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

What can we do to make the emphasis of Easter a time of spiritual reflection?  Read the story of the crucifixion and resurrection as a family from Luke 23 and 24:1-8.  Pray together with a spirit of thanksgiving for His unconditional love for us and the gift of our salvation.  As you bake Easter cookies or make decorations with your children, talk about why Easter is so important. It will make memories that can become a tradition for them, but it will also make a difference in eternity.

II Corinthians 5:17 tells us, " Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Spring is a time of new life; we see it in nature.   Let us remember to celebrate our new life in Him.  He is risen indeed!