The days after Easter

There's an overwhelming build-up to Easter, whether we realize it or not.  Fat Tuesday.  Ash Wednesday.  The lenten season, where traditionally you give something up for 40 days to draw closer to Christ.  Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Maunday Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday.  It's deserving of it's significance, and not just for Easter Egg Hunts and candy-filled Easter Baskets.

It helps us remember the greatest moment in the course of human history, the day God's Messiah defeated the giant of sin and death.  Think about that fact for a minute.  Let it sink in: someone DEFEATED death.  Like, he died and then came back to life in a new body.  And with His death and resurrection, Jesus enables us to repent from our sin, our deadness, and turn to true, genuine life in Him. 

That's insanely good news!  So here's my question:  How are you going to be impacted by it?

If it's really true that Jesus came back from the dead, that He transformed you from dead to alive (Ephesians 2) and made you into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), how will you respond?

If you're like me, you're tempted to go into Monday as if nothing happened. 

My one bit of counsel for you (and really, for myself): Don't think about what happened on Easter Sunday only during Easter Sunday.

Romans 1:16 says "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..."  The Gospel IS the power of God!  If it truly is of great power, we need to be thinking of it ALL the time!

What does this mean for us?

Believe the Gospel, ALWAYS:  Easter is great time to celebrate the truth of the resurrection.  But don't let it be the only time you remember Jesus.  The Gospel is the whole point of our faith... don't put it on the back burner.  Instead, remember it always as the main thing we hold onto.

Let the Gospel transform you: We all have things we'd like to change about ourselves, and sin patterns we'd like to stop doing.  Killing sin necessary in our pursuit of Christ.  But as soon as we place destroying a specific sin OVER our pursuit for Christ, the Christian walk becomes less about the glorious Gospel, and more about YOU conquering your issues.  The problem with this is it gives the illusion that you and I can actually beat sin without the help of Christ's transforming power through the work of the Holy Spirit.  It's our faith in Jesus that ultimately transforms us and helps us defeat the sin that so easily entangles us.

I hope you're encouraged to keep pursuing Christ, and to remember that Easter is not meant to just be a once-a-year holiday, but rather one method to remember and celebrate that God defeated the powers of sin and death through His Perfect Son, Jesus.

In His Grace,
Zack