Easter

Easter is not for the eggs. It's for Christ. It's for God. It's for us. Many people around this time of year question the resurrection of Jesus and ask if it really happened. In our church, we talked about the four most common reasons skeptics give for not believing. These are: Jesus didn't die on the cross (he was just really really really badly hurt). Jesus' tomb wasn't empty. The disciples stole the body. Or The disciples were delusional when they actually saw Jesus.

There are several problems with each of these theories, but some of the most convincing evidence comes from the fact that the disciples were willing and did lay down their lives to defend this truth and to spread the Good News to anyone who would hear. People don't go to their death for a lie. Also, there is no other rational way to explain the major shift in Judaism and the new Christian movement that happened after Christ's death and resurrection.

If what we hear is true, it has massive implications for our lives. If it is not true, Christians should be pitied more than any people because they celebrate a lie. If you don't believe he died, flat-lined, dead - and rose from the dead, his heart started beating again, breath again filled his lungs - then I challenge you to find a better answer than the Christian explanation of what happened. If you can't then the only answer is that He has "authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again" (John 10:18).

This means He is Lord over life and death, and is Lord over your life. If He is Lord we have no other option than to surrender our lives and our desires to the Lordship of Jesus. Our beliefs will be manifested in our thoughts and our actions, and we will be radically changed forever. You will not look the same as you did before. You will not act as you did before. You will be transformed from the inside out. You can tell when someone has the Spirit of Christ in them. Is it in you?

Driving home

I was driving home today when I saw a large truck with the sign "Earned. Never Given." on the side of it and a sword - as this picture shows. I figured it was for the Marines, and I began to think a little more about it. I realize the Marines are very hard and must be earned, but then I had a revelation - God's way is the opposite. "Given. Never Earned." No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try at the Christian life you cannot do it. No matter how many years you go to church, or how many quiet times you do or how often you read your Bible, you CANNOT please God. Activities that you do apart from the Holy Spirit and try on your own are worthless. It is impossible for us tragic sinners to please a holy God. God's love can only be given by GRACE alone through FAITH alone in CHRIST alone. It is a gift.

Doing Bible studies, praying, reading the Bible, and going to church are acts of obedience that flow from the realization of His divine gift to us- the gift of the Gospel. Since God desired to reconcile Himself with the people He created, He realized a Sacrifice must be made to cover the sins of His people forever and so He sent his Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and die on the cross and take our sins upon Himself, so we could be free. BUT sin did not have victory over Him, because on the third day, he defeated death and defeated sin forever... so WE do NOT have to live in our sin anymore. Any sin we struggle with has already been defeated and does not have a hold on us any longer. We get the gift of the Gospel, eternal life spent with God and the understanding that we are His. We are sons and daughters in Christ and of the Father.

From His love for us flows the desire to be more like Christ in our actions and in our desires - which happens through a transformation of our hearts. If you are re-born, your heart has been cleansed and replaced with His heart and you will trust in Him for your sustenance and your life. Your will, mind, and actions will have no choice but to be like His mind, will, and actions.

So, in a nutshell, thank God it is Given freely and Never Earned - because there is only one person who could earn it- Jesus- and He has already Earned our salvation for us by his obedience to God all the way to the cross. Since He earned it and gave it to us for us to enjoy, then we have no other option but to spread that joy we have to other people. The reason we are alive and the reason we go to church or read the Bible or learn more about Jesus is to spread the Gospel - the good news - to people who have not heard of it. It is not for self-consumption but rather for reproduction.

So go and do it.