Tag: Easter

Love: It Isn’t in the Cards

I have a confession to make.  I felt sorry for myself today.  Worse, I almost missed an important message.

I was standing in the greeting card aisle of my favorite Christian bookstore choosing Easter cards for some family members.  My eyes ran across a particularly pretty card with, “You Are Loved” in beautiful script across the front.   I picked it up, opened it and began to read.  Don’t ask me why…I’m not married, not in love with someone special I could have purchased the card for. 

Reading that card was like reading someone else’s mail.  It wasn’t for me.  In the moment, though, I wished it could be.  All those intimate words poured out with the intent of speaking to the heart of a loved one were wasted without someone to send them to me.  The tenderness of the message purchased to show another how precious she is held no special meaning for me.   My heart felt more than a twinge of disappointment as I acknowledged the words were not meant for my eyes, nor for my heart.

For the most part I am at peace about being a single adult.  But every once in a while…like when reading that card…I think being single sucks and I begin to feel sorry for myself.   I thought, “Nobody is going to tell me he loves me, no one is going to make me feel special or treasured.”  Quickly, I took my thoughts captive before a full-fledged pity party ensued.  Quietly, I placed the card back in the rack.

Then I looked around.  This Christian bookstore was strewn, wall to wall with the message of Easter.   HE IS RISEN! 

More than some sappy words in a greeting card, the message is one that echoes through the very soul of a true believer…Jesus the Messiah was crucified, died and rose again because He Loved Me.  He didn’t purchase a pretty piece of cardstock for me; He purchased my Life and my eternal destiny.  The price He paid to show me just how precious and treasured I am cost Him everything.  Jesus Christ gave his life so I might know that I am loved.

“Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…” Ephesians 2:4-5

“I love you with an everlasting love…” Jeremiah 31:3

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1

“Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love for you shall be immovable and never fail…” Isaiah 54:10

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life…” John 3:16

To an unbeliever, reading these words can feel like reading someone else’s mail.  Don’t miss the opportunity to help someone personalize the message of Christ.  Invite a lost friend or family member to join you for an Easter service this weekend. 

Beyond this weekend, don’t miss the opportunity to send out the message of Christ everyday by living a life which reflects gratitude for His magnificent sacrifice.  It is up to us who know Him to bring His message of hope to those who so desperately long for someone to tell them “You Are Loved.”

The Sound of Love’s Sacrifice

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Some folks shot me strange looks as I was coming out of Home Depot a few days ago. 

 

I was carrying a 5’ wooden cross.  I also got some nods of partial understanding…it was, after all, Good Friday.  Members of my family in Christ didn’t need to know the reason for the cross I was carrying.  They simply did the math and reckoned it had something to do with Easter celebration.  I lugged the cross through the parking lot feeling the splinters of the oak beam dig into my shoulder.  For a moment I paused to consider the weight of the Cross Christ bore on the Via Dolorosa. 

 

It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I love special occasions.  My domestic flair peaks with the approach of a holiday.  Determined not to permit decorating and cooking for 20+ people to overshadow the meaning of our Lord’s death and resurrection, I had gone to Home Depot with a mission in mind.  The cross would be placed out side my front door with 9” spikes partially nailed at opposite ends of the crossbeam.  A sign posted above the cross draped with a crimson sash read “It wasn’t the nails that held Him there.  It was His love for You.” Guests would be invited to hit one of the spikes with a hammer as a visual and auditory reminder, “Christ took the nails for me”.   

 

Predictably the guests began to arrive and each person was surprised to be greeted with a hug and a hammer.  Still all understood the powerful imagery and were sobered at the invitation to hit the spike.  The sound of the hammer driving the nail was powerful and sent chills down my spine each time I heard it.  It was the sound of Love’s sacrifice.

 

What must it have been like that day at Calvary?  Christ did not simply hear the spikes, He felt them.  Every blow.  In His wrists.  Through His ankles.  These were not little nails but large spikes ruthlessly driven deep into His flesh.  Did He grimace?  Did He cry aloud?  Did He weep?  Whatever His response to this torture, we know 2000 years later the nails were not what held Jesus to the Cross.  As a mob at His feet mocked Him to save Himself, Jesus could have called legions of angels to His rescue.  But love made a choice that day, a choice to hang there.  Love chose to endure the agony.  Love chose to die for the sin of mankind.  Love chose to pay a price man could never afford, to give a gift man would never deserve. 

 

He endured the suffering that should have been ours. Isaiah 53:4

 

Praise be to God that Calvary was not the end.  As I celebrated Easter Sunday with friends and family today, we gave thanks for the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and we rejoiced in His Resurrection.  Because He lives we have hope for this journey.  Beyond that, Christ’s victory over the final enemy…death…offers us the promise of eternal life with Him in heaven.

 

“God raised Him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.” Acts 2:24

 

Jesus Christ is RISEN!