For me Easter is all about sacrifice, the sacrifice that Jesus made for each one of us on the cross when he bled and died, just so we can all be forgiven of our sins. I find it almost impossible to truly understand the pain and agony Jesus suffered when he was crucified.
Can you imagine how God felt, giving up his one and only son, just so the world could be forgiven of every sin?
Personally I struggle to comprehend how God must have felt, but I am forever in God’s debt because He did allow Christ to die on the cross.
As with every Easter, I feel so inadequate and so unworthy of God’s love. However I am also so thankful that God does love me unconditionally, and He is always by my side, guiding me and supporting me through each minute of every day, and challenge and problem life throws in my direction.
So if Easter has only ever been about two days off school or work and Easter eggs, I pray this Easter I have given you some food for thought about what Easter is really all about…
Easter is all about “The Cross” and the sacrifice God gave for you and for me.
CrucifiedLaid behind a stoneYou lived to dieRejected and aloneLike a roseTrampled on the groundYou took the fallAnd thought of meAbove all
Sometimes I think we get too caught up in ourselves and our religion, that we forget to live each and every moment for God.
It can be overwhelming when we are told to “live a holy life”, because that sounds like something almost unattainable to us mortals, but it needn’t be. A holy life is not defined as a single activity, but in fact a series of holy moments. Therefore a living a holy life, is surely possible for each of us if we just live each moment for God.
To celebrate Christ, and to acknowledge our love for Him, what should we do?
We must pray, read our bible, and worship Him!
It cost Christ his life when He came to earth, just so we could lead the kind of life we are able to lead today. We must give thanks to Him for that amazing love he had for us, so join with me today and worship Christ our saviour.
Just a few months ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus, and then in the last couple of weeks, we celebrated Christ‘s death and His resurrection, but where do we go from here?
Yes, Christmas and Easter are the two most important events in the Christian calendar but that doesn’t mean that when it’s not Christmas or Easter we should not celebrate Christ. In fact the complete opposite it true, it because of Christmas and Easter that we should be celebrating Christ’s life, and His message, throughout the whole year.
No I haven’t got the year wrong, I meant to give this a ten-year-old title!
Why? Because Easter weekend 10 years ago marked the start of a new era in my Christian journey. Easter 2002 was the first weekend that I no long attended Rutherglen Salvation Army, but Bellshill corps instead. I’d been attending evening meetings and band practices at Bellshill for a couple of months prior to this, and had decided to transfer from Rutherglen to Bellshill, and Easter for the start of my Bellshill experience.
My lasting memory of my first full weekend at Bellshill Salvation Army on Easter Sunday was the senior band playing one of my all time band pieces, The Light Of The World. I have always loved this band piece and the message it gives us, not just for Easter, but for every day of the year.
These last ten years have been some of the most enjoyable and inspirational of my life…the highlight has most definitely been the tour of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, I had the privilege of being part of during Easter 2003.
But then, if I’m honest there have been far more lows in my life during these last 10 years, particularly with my health and then the health of several other close family members, all of which is still ongoing.
During the lows of these years I did question if God was still there, and I did feel abandoned by Him. However God had not deserted me, He simply answered my prayers later than I’d hoped and in a different way than I’d expected. God got me through those tough times, and I continue to rely on Him for the strength I need for each day, but my faith in Him is now strong than I think it’s ever been. Put simply, through it all I chose to serve my Saviour!
Maybe it’s because of the new beginning in my life 10 years ago, that have subsequently brought me closer to God, but Easter is special to me. For me Easter is more special to me than even Christmas. Easter though is not important to me simply because of event in my life, it’s important to me, because of its significance to me as a Christian…Jesus is the light of the world, and for me He always will be. I pray you too will find Christ to be your light of the world.
I hope you receive many blessing as you listen to The Light of The World:
O Jesus, Thou art standing, outside the fast closed door,In lowly patience waiting to pass the threshold o’er: Shame on us, Christian brothers, His Name and sign who bear, O shame, thrice shame upon us, to keep Him standing there!O Jesus, Thou art knocking; and lo, that hand is scarred, And thorns Thy brow encircle, and tears Thy face have marred: O love that passeth knowledge, so patiently to wait!O sin that hath no equal, so fast to bar the gate!O Jesus, Thou art pleading in accents meek and low, “I died for you, My children, and will you treat Me so?” O Lord, with shame and sorrow we open now the door; Dear Savior, enter, enter, and leave us nevermore.
Next weekend is Easter when I’m sure many of you will be enjoying the odd Easter egg. But have you noticed how as soon as Christmas is over these days the shops seem to start trying to get us to buy Easter eggs?
Do they think we’re going to buy Easter eggs in January, eat them then, then buy more nearer Easter? I’m sure some people do, but I hope that’s not what most of us do.
Looking at the other part of Easter, the real reason we celebrate it, do we start celebrating Easter earlier every year?
I hope that like me, you celebrate the real reason for Easter, Christ’s crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, all year round. After all Christ isn’t just a Christmas and Easter saviour, he’s a saviour for us all, every day of the year!
Sometimes we can feel trapped or constrained by life, but don’t despair, God can set you free.
I thought about how sin had sentenced us to die And how God gave His only Son so you and I could say . . . And if the Son has set you free, Oh, if the Son has set you free Then you are free indeed
God sent Jesus here to earth to change the world, and that’s exactly what He did!
Here’s just a few lines from the song This Baby by Steven Curtis Chapman, which for me sum up Jesus’ time on earth:
And love made Him laugh and death made Him cry.With the life that He lived and the death that He died,He showed us heaven with His hands and His heart,‘Cause this man was God’s own son.This man was like no other one,Holy and human right from the start.
Please watch and listen to this wonderful song performed by Steven Curtis Chapman, This Child…
Jesus came to earth to change the world…has He changed your world?
Whenever I hear the phrase “The image of Christ“, here what I think of…
What do you think of when you someone says “The image of Christ”? Does it look anything like the above picture?
Yes there are plenty of nice images of Jesus that I could bring to mind when I hear that phrase. Images such as Jesus praying in the temple, Jesus healing the sick or feeding the five thousand, or maybe even Jesus at the Last Supper. However the image I see is not a very pleasant image of Jesus is it?
So why is it that I think of this particular image of Jesus? Well, I personally never want to forget this image because it means I will never forget just how much God sacrificed just for you and me, the life of His only son Jesus!
Don’t ever forget what God has done for you, and continues to do for you – Please keep the image of Christ on the cross in your thoughts always.
I hope you enjoy the song Image Of by Michelle Tumes, and find it helpful:
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
This bible passage fits in very well both with what I said in yesterday’s blog post One Life, and also with my thoughts for today…
Since last Thursday I’ve found myself spending a lot of time contemplating where I am in my spiritual journey…Has my life stagnated, or am I more eager than ever to learn more about God, and pull the whole of my life into His hands?
My spiritual life has definitely not stagnated in the last few years, but has grown in strength during some very difficult times in my life. Though having said that, I was in the depths of despair for a long time, I thought God had deserted me…but unsurprisingly, He proved to me that He was there, He had always been there, and He always would be there for me.
But have I really nailed all my sins to the cross and left them there? Have I really given Him my whole life?
Truthfully, my answer must be “no”. However I believe God has helped me recognised this fact so that I can move forward in my relationship with Him by giving everything I have to Him.
How about you, have you nailed all your sinful passions and desires to the cross and left them there? Are you living every part of your life for Jesus, and Jesus alone?
Now is the time for you, and me, to start anew, and give our all to God.
I pray you will find blessing and inspiration to take your all to the cross, as you listen to the following song, To Thy Cross I Come, Lord by The International Staff Songsters of The Salvation Army:
