The celebration of another Easter Sunday is fast approaching. A weekend, in our calendar, that we participate, study, celebrate, worship, attend church and spent time with family and friends. We bow our heads and pray, ever so gratefully, that Jesus Christ has overcome the grave and has risen. We rejoice and rededicate ourselves humbly to follow Him, walk the narrow path He wants us to, and live by His Word more closely. Many look inwardly and relive in their minds the vision of the intensity of what Our Savior went through for us. We try to imagine Him being beaten within a lash of His life, lashed and tortured, carrying a heavy cross beam by himself through the town to the top of Golgotha, being nailed to that heavy cross, bleeding from a crown of thorns placed on His head, mocked and tormented by many ,and left to die a horrible death, prophetically by the Scriptures.

 

Then there was the mourning of His death by so many, the darkening of the skies by a solar eclipse, the gust of wind, the thick torn curtain, that signified the start of a new relationship between God and we sinners, and the realization of the cost of our sin debt!

 

There was the joy, after the 3rd day, the discovery of the empty tomb, and His resurrection! He will once again walk among us before His ascension. Our hearts will be filled again with the realization of the joy that "He Lives”! He has risen indeed! He lives that we can be saved through our relationship with Jesus Christ!

 

Amen, right? But wait a minute! What about all the believers that are sitting in church and the many who are not? How about those going through all the motions, singing and praying, standing close to loved ones and sharing this wonderful season. But to many, who feel that deep down feeling that they are somehow unfulfilled and doubt the completeness of their faith? And how about all the non-believers and those who have been separated from their faith over the years? Many of these folks are standing close to or perhaps looking at others in their daily life with a huge hole within themselves and the cold feeling of "there’s something really missing in their lives”?

 

It is all around us, every day, everywhere, in people we have known for years, our loved ones and ourselves. I can assure you personally, and through the testimony of many young and old, that there are times in most people’s lives when we have doubted our faith or faithfulness. Perhaps we are among those who wonder whether God is going to give them a "Final Exam” and pass (Matthew 25: 31-46) when we stand before Him? Many have been angry with God at times, perhaps over the tragic loss of a loved one or blamed Him because something didn’t meet our own expectations. What about the people we think are rock solid and whole in their faith and we think they feel that God loves them, but they really have a deep rooted problem of truly ‘believing’ that He loves them? Are many really harboring feelings of self-doubt and self-worth, feel unwanted and have long existing feelings of not being cared for?

 

And there are those who have ‘lost their way’ and those who haven’t yet been saved? These folks are most of the people out there! They are not going to church, have a lot of excuses why they don’t need Christ in their life and tell you that "all Christians are hypocrites anyway”, so why bother! Does this sound familiar?!

 

In the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in John 4, we find strength in knowing that when we take a drink of water, we will thirst again, but when we drink from "His Living Water”…. We will never be thirsty again! It is with that reassurance that we can turn to those next to us, talk to those that seem troubled, help those who are bound by their past and present, help ourselves to overcome our worries and fears. We know that not only does God love us, but we can make the choice to accept His love for ourselves! There is nothing we can do in our past and present that will separate us from His Love and Forgiveness!

 

Easter Sunday should be a ‘new beginning’ for all of us to make in reconfirming or confirming our faith to follow Him and enjoying the freedoms of giving our lives to Jesus Christ! Easter is celebrated as a Joyous Holiday because it represents the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament and the Revelation of God’s plan of Salvation for every one of us! Easter is the day that not only commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus, but also celebrates the defeat of death and the Hope of Salvation for all of us!

 

It is by His Grace we are saved, by His Word we choose to live, by His Will we serve others…!