What Easter means to me.

To start this entry off I figured I’d share this awesome video with you before you begin to read on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsAgfA83m4U&feature=player_embedded

For most people Easter is all about the bunny, egg hunts and green plastic grass. Maybe the family will get together for a full day event with a dinner to top it off. Some may make this one of the days out of the year to actually make it to church, or maybe crack open a bible. Most however have forgotten or have been distracted from the real meaning behind Easter. What is Easter to you? How do you celebrate Easter with your family? Is it just another day out of the 365 in the year? Or is it something more?

I’m going to tell you what Easter means to me and how Easter should be an everyday celebration rather then one day set aside out of the year. The Easter story starts out with what is referred to as the Last Supper, and concludes at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You can read one account here in Matthew 26, 27, 28. I encourage you to read it and really think about how drastically different Easter is today compared to what it really is supposed to be about.
Easter is not about a day of magical rabbits that hide colorful eggs in your yard. Easter is far greater of a day. In fact to say that it is about a furry magic bunny is insulting to say the least. What actually happened and what should be celebrated is the greatest day and event in all history! Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the history of the entire world there has never been such an awesome day! It was the day we were set free from all sin! You see Jesus Christ was born into this world to make things right. He came to pay a debt that had been placed over us due to the fall of Adam and Eve in The Garden Of Eden (Gen:3). From that day we all fell under the horrible thing called sin.

Jesus went willingly to his death for us. However many at that time or even now did not and do not realize that he was the messiah promised throughout all of Old Testament scripture. For them he was a criminal yet he did nothing wrong. They accused him of much but he was innocent and blameless. If they only would have listened to what Isaiah said in Isaiah 52 and 53. Or listened to Psalms 22 they would have known who he was. Those are just a few of the Old Testament prophecies that point directly to Christ as who the bible says he is. In fact the books in Isaiah were written close to 600 years before Christ was born. Psalms 22 over 800 years before he was born or crucifixion was invented. Yet Psalms 22 gives a detailed account of a crucifixion.

You see Jesus Christ came just as God had promised. Yet people continue to ignore that even when proof is staring them right in the face. Jesus went to the cross for us so that we would not be sent to an eternity of pain and suffering. He died that we may be set free. His sacrifice paid the way for our eternal well being. So that we could live side by side our creator and that we may be forever with the ones we love without tears, sickness, or death. How horrible it is to think we’d not take such a precious gift of love!

All the pain we feel, the regrets will be wiped away. That is if we accept Jesus Christ as our savior. Jesus went to the cross knowing the pain and suffering he was going to be put through. He was whipped and scourged to the point of death before he was forced to carry his cross though the city and up to the hill where he would face the most humiliating death anyone could endure. His shredded bloodied body was nailed to the cross and set upright for all who passed by to see. As he hung there bleeding to death people hurled insults his way. He not only suffered the pain of his wounds and the nails piercing his hands and feet. He also at the same time felt the crushing weight of world’s sin pushing down on him spiritually. If you think of all the sadness in your life crushing down on you it doesn’t even compare to what he must have felt. It was so bad that God had to look away from his son who hung there gasping for breath as his lungs collapsed in on themselves making each breath he took closer to his last. As Jesus died he prayed beautiful words that hold so much meaning. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.” He prayed for them as he prayed for us in our sin. So that our heavenly father would forgive us because we are often blinded by sin.

As Jesus Christ took his last breath, those who accepted Christ as their savior took their first as a free people. For the first time in the history of the world we all were set free from sin. The chains the held us captive were broken. Jesus was buried in a tomb and resurrected on the third day. That third day is what we now call Easter. This is what Easter is and what the world tries to forget. It is all about Jesus dying for our sins and conquering death with his resurrection. For those of you who haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your savior. I ask you to reconsider and really think about what Jesus did for you and I on that cross.