Happy Easter!

We went to the 8:00am worship service at our church today. There was no Sunday School...only the 3 worship service times that were offered in celebration of Easter.

I'm not ashamed to say that I don't get real excited about Easter, because at our church, it's like we're having a celebration for Christ every Sunday...not just on Easter Sunday morning. In fact, I normally am not hyped up about our celebration of Easter because it's usually a drama depicting the days that Christ was in the flesh on this Earth, complete with His resurrection from the grave. I don't know why, but dramas like that don't touch my heart the way they did when I was younger. What touches my heart now is different...it's life...and the truth of how utterly shameful we are and how God sent Jesus to redeem us from that. To save us and redeem us from ourselves.
Grace chose to "Face the Cross" this year instead of doing a drama. And for the first time in years on Easter Sunday morning...I cried. It's amazing to be reminded of how sinful I am and how full of grace and mercy my Lord is...that despite all my negative choices from the past (and even some I make today)...He has saved me and redeemed me...He has restored me!

Our wonderful pastor reminded us that it didn't take Easter for God to accept Christ' sacrifice as payment for the sins of all mankind. Jesus died on what we know as "Good Friday". And when Jesus died, His very words said it all..."It is finished". At that point in time, we were forgiven. The penalty of sin was forever paid. The bonus was when Jesus rolled the tomb away and gave us victory over death! Every negative mouth had to close THEN!!! Jesus not only satisfied God, but He defeated the ultimate consequence of sin...DEATH. So amazing!

Easter means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. What it means to me is this:

God loved me so much that He made sure I would have the choice to belong to Him...to be forgiven...redeemed...and restored...by sending Jesus to pay the price for my sin. God said no sin would ever separate me from Him, unless I rejected the One who paid that price. And when He called my heart to Him, I made the choice to repent from my sin, accept Christ, and live for Him. I now have an inheritance that is so glorious, I can't wrap my mind around it. Though it will try...death and sin will not destroy me, because I belong to the One who has power over all things.

That is Easter, and it's more amazing than I could ever fully explain.