Easter Sunday

I'll be one to admit, I won't protest receiving a nice piece of dark chocolate on Easter. And while the bunnies, chicks, chocolate and pastel colors are all cutesy and fun, its not what Easter is about. To start this off, I want to bring up a post I saw today by one of my Facebook friends...

I love Easter because, Christ died for everyone; even those who do not know him.
He died for you, regardless if you wake and curse Him, or Worship him.
You cannot escape His complete adoration of you ♥
That's unconditional love, and that's why I celebrate His sacrifice today. 

I like this post a lot, it brings up a subject I've been wanting to blog about, but didn't know when was the right time. Well, Easter seems like a good time to talk about Jesus's death and resurrection, doesn't it?

Jesus died for everyone. 

Yes! And truth be told at one point or another, we have all turned away from Jesus and decided our way was better. We've all at one point, by action or by words, have cursed God. No one is better than the person sitting next to them, we didn't deserve to be saved from sin, but God choose to save us anyway.

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way," Isaiah 53:6


Jesus died for everyone; lairs, murderers, rapists, church people, prostitutes, protesters, hypocrites, you, me, everyone! Jesus died so that everyone, no matter what they've done, could come to him. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23

But wait! The story doesn't end there. 

As much as I love talking about what Jesus did for us on the cross, it doesn't end there. Jesus died and rose three days later. Jesus's death was not the end, he's alive! My Lord, my King, is alive! The tomb was rolled away- there are no bones in his grave. I don't worship a dead king, my Lord is alive, my Savior lives. Such beauty, such love, such grace! This is why we celebrate Easter.

My God is alive, and he dwells in me by his Spirit. I am alive, truly alive, only because He lives.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. - Romans 8:11

Dear Reader, I don't know where you are at in your spiritual life, perhaps you're already commited, perhaps you've fallen away, perhaps you despise God or perhaps you're on the fence; but I want you to know that Christ died for you, He loves you. If you choose to follow him it won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

May the Lord Jesus, the one who defeated death, defeat death in your life. May he provide a resurrection for your spirit, and may you truly know what it is to live. 

I'm going to place a very long scripture here at the bottom, yes I know, reading! How terrible. But I think it sums up what this Easter celebration is all about quite nicely.

Isaiah 53

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
   Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
   nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the Lord's makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After he has suffered,
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
   and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
   and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.