Happy
Spring from the Bondurants
Who doesn’t love Spring? Well, those who suffer from
allergies don’t generally love Spring, but for most of us there is something
altogether wonderful about Spring. The mornings are crisp yet pleasant and the
days are perfect, with new life springing up everywhere you look—flowers
blooming, leaves budding, caterpillars turning into butterflies, eggs breaking
forth with baby birds, and of course baby bunnies! We have a chrysalis and two
bird nests in our backyard and we can’t wait to see the new life emerge!
God has a way of speaking to us
through the seasons, doesn’t He? Just when we think that winter will never end,
He reminds us of the hope of new life through the season of Spring. And while
Spring and Easter have become synonymous for most of the culture through
decorations and celebrations, Easter is a distinctively Christian holiday.
I remember Easter as a child fondly. It was one of the
days that we would attend church. We would have supper at my grandparents home
and hunt eggs and get Easter baskets full of fun surprises. It was really like
a second Christmas for us. Leading up to Easter we’d always participate in a
town Easter egg hunt and get pictures with the Easter bunny of course. Growing
up, for me, Easter was about all of the fun stuff, and not necessarily anything
distinctively Christian.
I became a
follower of Christ when I was 15, and Easter and Spring began to take on a
whole new meaning. Every Spring I am reminded of the new life Christians have
in Christ when I see the glimpses of new life in His Creation. A passage in the Christian Scriptures says, “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come.” So for me, Spring takes on a deeper meaning. Each
Spring it is as if God is reminding me that because of His Son Jesus and
because of His death and His resurrection, He has made me into a new
creation. My “old has passed away.” My
life before Christ was that of an enemy of God, someone full of sin, shame, and
unclean, not desiring God. Yet another passage in the Scriptures says, “ but God
shows his love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. Christ willingly gave up His life
and took on Himself the punishments for our sin, and this was all because of
God’s love for us. But it doesn’t end with His death. Death and the grave
couldn’t hold Jesus. There is newness—new life through Christ. When I became a follower of Christ, my whole
life changed. The Scriptures say we are given a “new heart” and that the Holy
Spirit dwells within us. We are changed
even more than the metamorphosis of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly--
our whole identity changes. In one instant
we are enemies of God, and in another instant we are His beloved children, made
holy and blameless by the blood of Christ and the resurrection.
Yet, this
all hinges on the resurrection. Did Christ really rise from the dead? Did He
really ascend into Heaven? And if He did, then what does this mean for each of
us? Well, first we have to believe in the validity of the Scriptures. (If this
is your hang up, let me know and I can discuss with you why we CAN trust the
Holy Bible.) We also have to believe that Jesus was who He said He was. Jesus
said that He was THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE, and that the only way to God
was THROUGH HIM. He said that He would die and then rise again THREE days
later. We either believe Jesus or we don’t. If we don’t believe Him then either
we don’t trust the Scriptures or we don’t trust Him, or both. If we do believe
He was telling the truth and that He wasn’t lying or confused and crazy, then
we must acknowledge He was Lord. And if He is Lord we must examine everything
He has said and live lives of loving obedience to Him. The wonderful thing is
that His love is what motivated Him to give Himself for us on the cross and His
love is what motivates us to live a life of obedience to Him.
This is what Easter is all about for followers of
Christ. Bunnies are cute and it’s fun to color eggs, but it is about so much
more. The whole Christian faith hinges on the resurrection. The resurrection is why we can have “new
life”, and the resurrection is what Spring points towards. Christ rose from the
dead, conquering sin and death, and now lives and reigns in Heaven at the
Father’s right hand. This is amazing.
The Scriptures say that Christ willingly gave His life for us because of
LOVE. We are given “new life” so we can love God and have a relationship with
Him through Christ. We are free to love God and receive His love, and then pass
that love on to everyone else. This is what new life is all about. This is what
the resurrection is all about. For those that are followers of Christ, this is
what Easter is all about!
It is because of the
resurrection and new life through belief in Christ that we can have hope. In
times of death, cancer, wars, genocide, & trials of many kinds, we can have
hope. Jesus has promised His followers not only an eternity in Heaven, but
comfort, hope, love, strength, and grace for life on earth. This all hinges on
the resurrection. Jesus’ promise of eternal life gives us hope in this
sometimes very dark world-- hope of His grace and strength here, and the hope
and promise of eternity with Him in heaven. Because Jesus rose and conquered
sin and death, we can trust His promise of new life and a home with Him and in
Heaven, where He sits at God the Father’s right hand. “Behold,
He is making all things new.”
Happy Easter! Followers of
Christ have a tradition of saying, “He is Risen”, and then responding, “He is
Risen Indeed”. And He is!
For those reading this who
have never heard the story of Easter or of Jesus I invite you to let me tell
you more anytime you’re available. Jesus is my greatest joy and my greatest
hope and I delight to share about Him and my relationship with Him, and His many
wonderful teachings. I am available in person or via skype or telephone or
email, etc.
If one would like to read
more about the teachings of Jesus, start here with the Gospel of John. (If you’d like a hard
copy I can get that for you.)
If one would like to
research more I am linking to a GREAT resource and a few more links. This resource has an article called “EASTER: A lawyer examines the case for the resurrection” on pages 4-10.
Here are some great questions some may have. Give
them a listen:
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?,
The Death and Resurrection of Jesus, Part
One, Part Two
If I believe in the resurrection and that Jesus
really rose from the dead and that He deserves our worship, obedience and love,
and I kept silent and didn’t tell my family and friends, then that would be
unloving and selfish of me. So please consider this Easter letter a gift of
love from my family to you and yours. And please dialogue with me if you have
any comments or questions, even if you adamantly or vehemently disagree.
Check out our family blog to read about some of
our fun Easter traditions. www.chalbond.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment