EASTER - JUST A BLIP ON THE CALENDAR?

Last Sunday at The Mission Pastor Paul mentioned how we don't prepare for Easter the same way we do for Christmas. I don't know that I'd considered that before, and he's inspired me to follow up a bit on that thought.

We spend weeks (for some people it's months) preparing for Christmas.  We decorate and plan special events. We have banquets and parades and concerts and plays and carol sings. Christmas is far more than a day. In the western world at least it's a month long celebration for just about everyone, Christian or not.

Easter, on the other hand, comes upon us without a whole lot of fanfare. If you're a Christian, you probably have a special Good Friday service to attend. If you have young children you may have a candy hunt. If you don't fall into either of those categories, Easter can go by almost totally unnoticed.

Thanks to Pastor Paul for pointing that out, but he's left me pondering the question, why? 

From a Christian point of view Christmas is very important to be sure. But Easter is HUGE! It's the culmination of the plan of salvation God had been putting in place since Adam. Easter is the death and resurrection of our Saviour. My eternal destiny, and yours, is tied to what happened at the time of Passover almost 2000 years ago. So why is Christmas such a massive celebration, while for most of our society Easter probably draws less attention than Valentine's Day or Halloween?

I don't pretend to know the answer, but as usual I do have an opinion. Maybe opinion is too strong. Let's call it an idea, or even a guess.

Everything about Christmas is warm and fuzzy. It's developed over the years into a time of sharing and family and good will. Whether you're a Christian or not the season is filled with special activities, and even for the "non-religious" the stories of a baby in a manger, angels, a shining star, and wise men are all happy and warm. The whole thing is positive. When you do hear complaints about Christmas, it's about the busyness and the shopping - trappings that aren't even part of the original Christmas. The message of Christmas is goodness and light and doesn't make any demands. Everyone can celebrate Christmas and feel good about it.

Easter on the other hand?  Now that's different. The message is powerful, but it's definitely lacking when it comes to warm and fuzzy. More than that, it confronts us with our sin and the need for us to do something about it. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most dramatic and important event in history, and it brings us face to face with our need of a Saviour. It says, "You have a choice to make."

Easter is fine for the masses as long as it's limited to a pink bunny and loads of chocolate. But the real message of Easter? Well, that's uncomfortable and something most people would rather not focus on any more than they have to. So while the "religious world" takes time out to remember the cross and the tomb, the rest of western society would rather ignore the truth of Easter and eat candy instead.

It's a tragedy that Easter goes by largely without notice, ignored by the people who most need to hear its life-changing message. It's a message of love and sacrifice and forgiveness. It's a message of challenge and a call to repentance. It's a celebration and remembrance of the most important events of all time. Let's do what we can to extend the message of Easter to a world that needs to know.

With All Your Heart!

I've been thinking lately about Jeremiah 29:13. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God is speaking to the Israelites while they are in captivity in Babylon.  He tells them "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart".

The thing that is catching my attention at this particular time is the phrase "with all your heart". God said to Israel that they could find Him, but they had to be serious about it. A casual, half-hearted attempt to connect with God wouldn't be good enough.

Wow! Could that explain why I so often feel out of touch with God, like He is nowhere to be found? Is it because I haven't been really serious about it?

I was curious to see if the Bible ever used the expression "with all your heart" in other places.  I was amazed at what I found. I'm going to give you just a sample of the 24 places where that phrase is used in the NIV.

    Deuteronomy 4:29 "You will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul"

    Deuteronomy 6:5 "love the Lord you God with all your heart"

    Deuteronomy 10:12 "serve the Lord your God with all your heart"

    Joshua 22:5 "hold fast to him and serve him with all your heart"

    1 Samuel 12: 24 "fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart"

    Proverbs 3:5 "trust in the Lord with all your heart"

    Joel 2:12 "return to me with all your heart"

    Zephaniah 3:14 "be glad and rejoice with all your heart"

    Matthew 22:37 "love the Lord your God with all your heart"

    Colossians 3:23 "whatever you do, work at it with all your heart"

Seek Him.  Love Him.  Serve Him.  Hold fast to Him.  Trust Him.  Return to Him. Rejoice in Him. All these things and more we are to do with all of our hearts!

Are you getting the impression that God wants us to be really serious about our relationship with Him? Jesus echoed this principle in Revelation 3 when he encouraged the believers in Laodicea to not be lukewarm about their Christianity.

God is so clear about this in the Bible that there isn't really much further to say.  We are to put our whole heart and soul into knowing and serving Him.  Period.

The only comment  I can think to make is really a question.  Why don't we do it?  

People camp out for days to get tickets to see their favourite band.  Others wait in lineups around the block to get the latest IPhone or video game, when they could simply wait a few days and avoid the lines. Other spend thousands of dollars to get up close and personal (sort of) to NFL stars at the Super Bowl. There is no limit it seems to what people will do or pay to get within viewing distance of some celebrity or athlete who is, after all, just another person.

Now consider this. The almighty God of the universe wants us to have a relationship with Him, and it's within our grasp. We just need to get serious about it. So why do we treat Him so casually? I'm not sure I really understand the answer.  If you have some insights you would like to share I'd be happy to hear from you in the comments section below.

YES, GOD'S LOVE IS AMAZING

I was recently reflecting with a few other people on the proliferation of evil and immorality all around us.  We commented on how we often feel like we don't belong in this world, even though it's the world we have lived in all of our lives.  

Some might think it odd for us to feel like aliens in the world we were born in, but it's really not strange at all. Philippians 3:20 says "But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."   In John 17 Jesus said, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

This teaching is very real. As children of God a transformation has taken place inside us, and one of the results is that we are not at home in this world in the same way we once were. Even though we have never experienced heaven, God places something in our hearts that makes us dissatisfied with this world, and longing for what He has in store for us. In fact I would suggest that if we are comfortable living in this sinful world, where Satan has distorted so many of the good things God created, it may be time to examine the quality of our relationship with God.

While our hearts grieve over the evil we witness around us every day, we really only see the tip of the iceberg. The sin and depravity is far deeper and far more serious than we could ever know from our relatively sheltered lives. Yet God sees it all. Every day.

I think about that sometimes. What does the world look like from God's point of view? There are no secrets from Him. The evil that's kept in the dark or behind closed doors, the depths of which most of us can't even imagine, isn't hidden from God. He sees it all. He sees how His perfect creation has been twisted and abused. He sees how mankind has been transformed by sin into something barely recognizable as compared to the perfect man and woman He first breathed life into. How it must break the heart of God when He looks at what His perfect world has become!

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the depravity and the suffering in the daily news, I cry out in my heart for Jesus to return and put a stop to it. Then in the next breath I think, "Lord, I have loved ones who are not ready yet. Can you wait a little while longer for their sake?"

My mixed feelings are just a tiny reflection of what God must be feeling. The skeptics would say we've been waiting for Jesus' return for thousands of years, so surely it's all a fairy tale. The reality is that God is withholding His hand of judgement on a world that could hardly be more deserving because of the same feeling I have when I say "I have loved ones who aren't ready". 

This speaks to me of God's immense capacity to love the world in spite of how overwhelmingly evil we have become. God's inability to tolerate sin must make His need to bring judgement on this world almost irresistible. Yet He holds back because of a love that is even greater, waiting for people to turn to Him before it's too late.

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

These days I find myself coming back so often to the love of God. It seems like no matter what subject I am studying or teaching, it all leads me back to a sense of awe over just how much God loves us.

There is no question that this world is deserving of God's judgement, and there is also no question that it is coming. So many things tell us we are in or fast approaching what the Bible refers to as the last days. Yet still God waits. He waits for more to come to Him in repentance. In my mind I don't see a cruel and vengeful God in heaven eagerly preparing to crush a sinful world. Instead I picture a broken-hearted and loving God pleading, "Come, come now while there's time. I can't wait much longer". 

What can we say that would begin to describe God's amazing love!