Celebrate Easter

This Sunday, we will head to church to celebrate Easter. New clothes, pretty flowers, yummy food. All good things but what are we celebrating? The arrival of spring? An obligatory religious observation?  Let's take a few minutes to focus on what the day really means.

Jesus died. The One who healed folks who couldn't see or walk. He even brought some back to life. The One who fed the hungry. The One who loved people to wholeness, showed them how to live. The One who called people to repentance from sin. The One who said if we saw Him, then we had seen the Father.

This One, the Hope for all the world, died. And He said He had to. That it was why He came. To be the perfect sacrifice, required for the sin of the world. Can you imagine how His followers felt? Talk about grief and disappointment and confusion. I mean, really, they followed this Man and believed that He was going to change the world. They gave up their way of life to answer His call. They saw actual miracles and placed all their hope in Him.

 Then He ups and dies. Certainly they must have had a few moments of doubt - if He were really who He claimed to be, wouldn't He have asserted a little Divine power and wiped out the bad guys?? Ponder for a moment what your feelings would have been – disappointment, confusion, disillusionment, fear, maybe even anger?

Then, to the amazement of them all....even though He had told them...His body isn't in the tomb. He appears! Living and breathing! NO WAY!!!

The initial response must have been shock. Then, I imagine that Jesus’s words and explanations from the preceding three years began to sink in. They finally grasped what He meant, why He came, why He died and that He had come back to life. I wonder how long it took for them to understand what His death on the cross accomplished.

He paid the debt we owe God . Sin is costly - it exacts death from those who commit it. And Jesus's voluntary death was the only means by which our debt could be paid. So He paid it. Mercy. Amazing mercy. Love beyond compare. I hope we never get over being amazed at such great love!

But then He did the impossible. He defeated Death! No longer would man have to fear Death because Jesus overcame it! Not only can our sin be paid for so that we can be acceptable to God, but we now don't have to fear Death. He conquered it! Because of His resurrecting Himself, He gives to us the promise of resurrection. To live forever, without sin or death. Oh hallelujah!

This year, as we celebrate Easter,let's focus on what His death AND His resurrection do for us. And ponder, just for a moment, that this same power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us. NOW. Is there anything in your life that could use some resurrection power? A relationship? A dream? Finances? Self-control? Joy? Hope? Because of Easter, that power, that Glory, can be present in our lives through Jesus. Those of us who are Christ-followers have resurrection power that enables us to live supernatural lives. If that doesn't describe you, do you want it to?

 

Celebrate Easter. For real.

The cycle of giving

Luke 6:38 - Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.

I love this verse that Dr. Luke pens for us! It is such a beautiful expression of the generosity of God. “Pressed down, shaken together, running over” - not “whatever you give, you will get” . Instead it is a picture of uncontainable abundance.

The verse is usually thought of in terms of financial giving and certainly its application includes that. Other verses express the same exhortation for us to be lavish in giving back to God what He has given to us, and that God will not only notice but also reward that. Proverbs 22:9 - He who is generous will be blessed for he gives some of his food to the poor. 2 Corinthians 9:6-11 - Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever. Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.

Indeed, we can understand the verse from Luke to apply to how we give our money and invest for Eternity. But we miss a great portion of its application if we don’t look at it in context. Verse 35 is smack dab in the middle of a passage where Jesus is majoring on how we treat others, particularly those who don’t treat us well or cannot do anything beneficial for us in return. Focusing in on just verses 35-38 gives us a broader idea of what this particular verse has for us: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful and do not judge and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return.

We see that the meaning goes far beyond our checkbook. Jesus is including how we treat people, how we view them, how we judge them. He calls us to be merciful - not condoning sin but rather not giving others the judgment they deserve. Extending grace and the benefit of the doubt, rather than condemnation. Making allowances for their failures and offering understanding for their shortcomings. “Pardon” - releasing them from our expectations of what we believe they owe us. I don’t think this calls us to pretend the wrong behavior isn’t there - rather it is just not insisting that others conform to how we think they should behave and instead letting them answer to God.

The consequences of our choices, the standard we use towards others - whether financial or otherwise - is more of the same towards ourselves. And I believe these results happen in this present life as well as in Eternity. The measure we use towards others is the same God will apply to us. Multiplied.

May this truth grip our hearts and encourage us towards great mercy and generosity. Because we all want that to come back to our own lives!