We will celebrate Easter Sunday this year on April 4, 2021. What exactly does this mean to you? When I was a little girl Easter Sunday meant accompanying my mom to a department store a few weeks before Easter Sunday to pick out a beautiful new outfit to wear to church that day. It also meant racing downstairs on Easter Sunday morning to see the Easter basket the Easter Bunny left on the coffee table. Then it meant getting dressed up in my new Easter outfit (don’t forget the Easter bonnet), putting on my cute white gloves, getting a dollar from my dad to put into my new purse that matched my patent leather shoes so that I would have an offering to give when I got to church.
Well fast forward to my grown up years and most importantly after I got saved. Just in case I lost you, getting saved means you turn your life and your will over to your Savior, Jesus Christ. You simply ask for God to forgive you of your sins and to save you and it’s that simple. He does it immediately. Salvation is free. Once I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, started studying His word, started praying and asking Him to lead me and guide me in the direction He had already laid out for me before I was born, Easter started to make sense.
Easter is the most important Christian Celebration because we are celebrating when Jesus Christ is resurrected from the grave. Since He died on the cross on a day called Good Friday, according to the Bible He was resurrected (woke up) and came back to life on Easter Sunday. Hold on while I start praising Him right now for getting up. Do you know why I’m praising Him each time I think or write about it? It’s because of what God had His son, Jesus do by dying on the cross and then waking up on Easter Sunday morning that ended the destruction of the power of sin and death forever. We now have a free gift of eternal life! Folks, it can’t get any better than that. Just in case you’re wondering where in the Bible you can find this……I’m glad you asked! It can be found clearly in the Book of 1st Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Reading further into 1St Peter 1:4-12, it describes even further how blessed we are. Even in our suffering we have a lot of reasons to rejoice.
Once we decide to accept Him, life really does get easier. Oh sure, we’ll have trials and circumstances that may be challenging initially, but that’s when our faith kicks in. If we stay rooted and grounded in the word of God and allow Him to fix it instead of getting in His way, it becomes easier and easier. Trust me. I know. I’ve actually lost everyone in my immediate family, starting with my mom and dad, my only son, my only brother, my only husband, and my only sister. Yes, every one of them have gone to Heaven and left me here. Although your story may be different from my story, we all have a story. Losing my loved ones presented by far, the most challenging circumstances in my life but I never cease to thank God that He kept me through it all. I thank God daily for salvation and Him keeping me in my right mind. Well, I do have some friends who may disagree with me saying I’m in my right mind (I’m just sayin’ – smile).
I started this blog by asking you what the celebration of Easter meant to you. I hope I’ve been transparent enough in this writing to cause you to take a look inside yourself and decide whether or not your celebration of it is not superficial but with substance. If you happened not to know why we celebrate, I hope I’ve given you a new reason to do so. I hope the reason outweighs your trip to a clothing store or a search on Amazon or QVC. I hope you explain the real reason to your children instead of filling them up with candy and buying them books describing the Easter bunny. How about buying them a Youth Bible instead? How about reading it to them or teaching them to read it for themselves, if they are at an age to be able to do so?
Although I have fond memories of my childhood and thank God I still remember them to be able to share with you, my fondest memories today are of the one who gave His life for me; the one who suffered on that old rugged cross for me; the one who loved me through all of my trials and kept me and still keeps me today. So this year when I celebrate Easter, I’ll be rejoicing as heartily as possible and thanking my precious Savior for getting up early that Sunday morning because as I celebrate His resurrection I will be thanking Him for my life as well. God Bless you.
Sister Helen Shubert