What is Easter?

It's EASTER 2010

Happy Easter to you today!

So, what is Easter?

It depends on who you ask... to some, Easter is about eggs, candy, pretty dresses, and a meal with family.  That stuff is all good.  We do that too and we enjoy it.

I wanna write about what Easter IS...  It is a celebration day!

  As Christians, we believe that a Savior came to earth to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.   God wanted to make a way for us to be in relationship with Him,  so he sent His only Son - JESUS - to live a perfect life (as an example to us to live a life that pleases and glorifies the Father and a life that is marked with miracles and settting people free) and to die (as the sacrificial passover lamb) to become the final blood offering for all sin.  All sin EVER -- past,  present, future sin were all paid in full and FORGIVEN by Jesus death on the cross. 

Jesus died in a terrible way and while he was beaten he said, "By these wounds you are healed".  His beating paid for HEALING.  Just as quickly as you can believe in Jesus for Salvation, we can also believe in Jesus for Healing.  It is done.  

He suffered and died so that we could be free. 

And as amazing as that is that He would die for us, it's not even the end of the deal.  (I mean you might die for your kids, but would you die for the random man you saw at Chick-fil-A?  God the Father watched and allowed his SON to die for us!  That is how much you Heavenly Father LOVES YOU and wants a relationship with you!!)  After Jesus became the final sacrifice for sin, he was placed in a tumb for three days.  On the THIRD DAY He was brought back to LIFE and walked out of that grave cave!  His close friends watched Jesus die on the cross, watched in placed in the cave, and morned the loss of their friend.  Can you imagine seeing someone in three days after they have died?  I know I would freak out a little!  Not only did His friends see him, but the bible tells of hundreds of witnesses SEEING JESUS ALIVE AGAIN.  Wow.  Christians call this the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is what we CELEBRATE on EASTER!  Good Friday is a day of rememberance of Christ death and that He died for us and  all of the reason why.  It's a day to be grateful and to give praise to Jesus.  Then on Easter Sunday we Celebrate that not only did Jesus pay for all sin as the final blood sacrifice through his death on the cross, but He was also brought back to life!  The bible tells us that Jesus went up into the sky, into Heaven to be with the Father (until he returns again).....  as crazy as that sounds to think about a man coming back to life and then watching him float up into the sky.... there were over 500 folks watching that happen and it was very well documented.  Those who believe that Jesus is who He said He was - the Son of God - the Savior - we don't worship and pray to a dead god.  When we worship and pray to Jesus we are in a relationship with God who is very much ALIVE and actively responding to his children.  Jesus is Alive and that is why we celebrate Easter! 

Jesus is God's Son who came to earth for us.  He lived and died and was brought back to life for us.  Jesus said he only did and said what the Father told Him to do because they love each other and the Son desires only to glorify the Father.  In that I see that the Father's heart is to pursue us.  He is not distant.  God the Father has been, is, and will be ACTIVE in His pursuit for you... to have a relationship with you. 

So Easter is now a commercial holiday, but that 's Ok, there is still an amazing story of LIFE in the real meaning of Easter!  May you experience NEW LIFE this Easter 2010.

May you be healed & saved & set free this Easter!

May the TRUTH that Jesus was and is real and that He really does LOVE YOU and want a relationship with you wash over you like a cool waterfall today.   

And if you so choose to believe in Jesus and fully recieve that He is YOUR Savior, you will know that you will have ETERNAL LIFE in Heaven.  Because He LOVES us!

Jesus is Alive! 

"I Have Come So That You May HAVE LIFE to the Full"