What Easter Means To Me

Easter...what does it mean to you? Our church has been doing a play titled "Master Mender" for a couple of weeks. Because of that I really started to think about that question for myself.

As a child it meant a day filled with good things...almost as good as a birthday. First we would get up and find an Easter basket filled with candy and a toy. Then, of course, I had to put on my new Easter dress and shoes...which never thrilled me because I liked jeans and t-shirts!! I'm sure for those of you that know me that is not a surprise. Then it was off to church. After church it was the big family dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Everyone I knew all had just about that same schedule in their lives. As I got older the Easter basket went away...no more egg hunt...and the big family dinner dwindled down. One thing remained the same...church was always in the picture. Over the years Easter Sundays have come and gone. I can't remember ever missing an Easter Sunday service in my life. The funny thing was...

Every year Easter Sunday was just a reminder of something that I couldn't have in my life. Actually, I should say someone I couldn't have in my life...Jesus. That was what I truly believed. The longer I believed that...the tighter satans grip on my life was. He fed me lies and I believed him. Like many of you that are reading this right now...

Isn't it funny how sometimes we find it so easy to listen and believe satans lies and so hard to really hear and believe in the love that Jesus has for us. I think once you start believing satans lies he starts putting this shell around you...kind of like an eggshell. The difference with this shell is that it gets thicker and thicker until it is almost unable to be cracked.  You might hear the word preached...people may talk to you about the Lord...you listen to Christian music...you even go to church every week because you want God to want you...but your shell is uncrackable. Why?...satan. He is right there in your face telling you that he owns you. God doesn't want you because you have done too many terrible things. Why do you think you can be exposed to all of this church and God stuff and still..."YOU"...can't feel anything. "YOU"...can't get past everything that has happened to you. "YOU"...can't stop wanting to do all of the things you know are wrong. "YOU"...continue to fail. No matter what "YOU" do God doesn't want you!!! But satan tells you he does want you so you need to just stick with him. Well...satan is a liar!! That shell that he has helped to put around you can be cracked in an instant. How...

GOD!!! There is a little two word phrase that I really like...But GOD!!! Because of God we have a way out of all of the mess of our lives. God sent His son Jesus into the world for people that have let satan lie to them and put a shell of deceit around them. Jesus came to crack that shell and set us free! That shell represents the bondage that satan has us wrapped up in. The bondage of lies and all the failures of our pasts. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He did that to set us free from all of our failures...our past life. We don't have to listen to satans lies anymore.

God does want you. He doesn't care what you have done. He sent His Son to take care of all of those things. Jesus died on the cross with His arms stretched out saying come to Me. He won't condemn us for our past sins and failures. He loves us. All we have to do is come with a repentant heart and ask for His forgiveness. Go to the foot of that cross and tell Him you are sorry for your sins. Ask Him to forgive you and help you  learn to live for Him. That shell will start falling away and He will make you a new person.

John 3:16-17 (New Living Translation)

 ¹⁶ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.


Today Easter means to me...Forgiveness and new life.