Easter is the holiday that ushers in a new season. Spring marks the end of the bitter cold, snow, and ice. The sun replaces the dreary gray skies with the bright blue horizon. Trees are turning green, bunnies are hopping out of their burrows, ducklings waddle down to the ponds with their mothers and the sounds and smells of new life are every where.
However, Easter is more than nature coming out of a winter’s nap. It’s also an amazing celebration of the new life we are offered through Christ Jesus. Because of His willingness and the Father’s plan, He went to the cross to pay the debt that our sin deserves; death and eternal separation from God. Then three days later He rose from the dead.
I know, there are those who say there are many ways to God, like there are several paths to reach the mountain’s summit. Some of the paths are just harder than others. I would love for there to many ways to God. That would mean more people wouldn’t go to hell due to their sins, but Jesus Himself told us the complete opposite.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.”
John 14:6 (NIV 1984)
The key word is “the”. He is not a way, but the way. He is not a truth, but the truth. He is not a life, but the life. What a comfort this is. There is nothing we can do for an eternal relationship with God. Nothing. Why? My good may outweigh the bad but that isn’t good enough. The requirement is perfection. Jesus was the only one who fit that description. In the end it doesn’t matter how we see ourselves.
Jesus also gave us this hope;
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies (*physically); and whoever lives and believes in me will never die (*spiritually)…”
John 11:25-26a
Anyone who is spiritually dead due to their sin and choose to accept Christ as their Savior and Lord, will be given a new life, and a abundant life in Him. That choice also gives us a hope for the future even when we look around and see the mess our lives and the world are in. God sits on His throne, and a day will come when this world will become new.
Friend if you have all ready accepted the free gift that Jesus has extended to you, praise God and celebrate this Easter. If not, I would encourage you to visit the tab at the top “An Invitation”, which walks you step by step in what it means to be one of His children. The Heavenly Father desires that all come to Him and be adopted into His family. Jesus asks one more question:
“Do you believe this?”
John 11:26b
*emphasis added.
Solitude with the Father 