Today, Good Friday, is the day we chose to save a thief instead of a Savior.

Today, Good Friday, is the day we chose to save a thief instead of a Savior. In the Garden of Eden we made the same choice. We chose the ultimate thief instead of God. Temptation got the best of us. The enemy of God schemed and thought he could win. But as any Christian knows that is not the end of the story. Easter is coming! A happy ending is on its way!

I once heard a sermon describe Easter as the second stamp. By this we often think that the story is over, but Easter is the declaration the story has just begun. Just when we think the story is over Easter reminds us God is not finished with us yet.

This week I have had two friends lose a parent, one lost her dad and the other her mom. For me it is easy to say with joy what a time to enter heaven as we know the joyous celebration coming of Easter. Yet, for my friends there are going to be times this side of heaven they will miss their parent. Times when she wants to ask her mom what to do as her child rebels or when the other friend wants to ask her dad to teach her how to play that note on the trumpet. My heart breaks for those moments when all my friends want is to have their parent back. For those moments their parent will miss out on. One of the friends has a little sister, who had just entered into adulthood, but will never get the chance to go shopping with her mom for baby clothing. The heart ache and tears are painful, but for any Christian the promise of Easter is in their heart. One day these children with be reunited with their parents, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

We may have chosen the thief, but God chose us. When we chose the thief I imagine it all the more confirmed in Jesus’ heart His need to save us - to suffer the most painful death. God chose us despite our rebellious choice and He still and will forever chose us.

Easter is our second chance. God stands at the door knocking, waiting for us to open the door and chose Him. When we do so we gain a new life through Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.” Through Christ we are reconciled with no condemnation. Jesus became our Advocate once and for all.

For a Christian, life on earth is not the end but just the beginning of eternal life with God. When a Christian loved one dies here on earth the story is not over, just as Jesus’ story was not over on Good Friday. Easter is coming! Christ had died, but more importantly Christ has risen and Christ will come again. Despite our choices God gives us second chances. God chose you and invested all He had in YOU.  Will you this Easter give God a chance to change your life and move the trash of sin out of your life? I promise if you chose God your life will never be the same.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mount Sinai

Image
A year ago…it amazes me how quickly a year can fly by while still feeling like it moved as slow as molasses. Last year, I was in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula hiking up and down what is held in tradition to be the Mount Sinai. My trek up that mount was difficult, but the trek down has a story of its own. I thought more than a couple times I would not be able to complete the hike. It was a 3 mile hike each way with two and half of the miles going up being done on a camel and the other half mile being 750 stone stairs. The day before my trek up Mount Sinai I had climbed to the top of a pyramid in a squat position most of the way up and rode a camel…almost falling off said camel making me say I would not ride a camel again. Do you know how wide a camel is? Imagine horseback riding the berth of two horses when you have short legs. My legs were tired already before Mount Sinai. We had gotten up at 3:30 AM the morning of Mount Sinai to get on a plane to the Sinai Peninsula. Then...
Read more

If the church is not a building...

Image
If the church is not a building, then why are pastors and worship teams so determined to go to the church building to lead worship? Do not get me wrong, I am so excited for live streams. On Easter Sunday I had the privilege to watch 8 Easter services. I started early with a friend’s church in England and ended with a friend’s church in College Station, Texas. Of the 8 services only 2 were done within the concept of social distancing, lowering the number of people in contact, and stay at home orders- the first one and the last one I watched. Some of the churches only had three people while other churches had up to ten people at the church building.   Can a pastor or a worship team truly say they understand what the church congregation is going through when they themselves are still getting dressed and going to the building? Yes, they are doing their best in leading the church. For sure, it is strange to lead a congregation that is not even in the sanctuary. For a worship team ...
Read more

Reacting the Opposite of Mary

Image
This Christmas I got the privilege to go to two Christmas concerts on one Sunday. One was the cute one played out by children; my nieces were especially cute. Second concert was one of extraordinary talent and powerful reverberations of music. In between the concerts I found an Assembly of God church to go to where the pastor was so passionately excited about the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Together the three events moved my heart and had me on the verge of tears many of times. Christmas felt different this year to me. God has so broadened my mind in the past year in knowing Him in deeper and more fantastic ways than I could have ever imagined. I am excited to celebrate that baby in the manger with more passion and gratefulness than ever before. My excitement is not over the present or the new gigantic Rudolph inflatable yard decoration in my neighbor’s yard (which I really do love). Instead I am moved more than ever by that baby’s life we celebrate arriving on December 25th. A...
Read more