In the Christian faith, Easter is the most important holiday of the year… By a long shot. Other holidays are important to followers of Jesus, but nothing carries the same significance as Easter Sunday in the Christian calendar. There’s no way to underestimate the importance of this holiday.
Christmas is an important observance because it represents the birth of the son of God. The gifts that are given in Christian households on Christmas represent the greatest gift ever delivered to humanity, God’s gift of his son Jesus. Thanksgiving carries almost the same importance as Christmas to the Christian. Most of us are pretty good at asking God for our needs in prayer. Sometimes we can forget to thank him when he meets those needs. Therefore, Thanksgiving is designed to remind us to give God the credit for the good things that he does for us.
Easter is at the top of the list of religious observances for Christians. Christmas and Thanksgiving are both important holidays to the Christian, but the Easter holiday is really more important than both of these holidays combined. In fact, without Easter, Christmas would have no meaning (1 Corinthians 15:14). Nothing deserves more thanks than what God did on Easter morning. Without Easter, even the very basis of the Christian faith would not make sense (1 Corinthians 15:17).
Now that you understand the importance of the Easter holiday, are you aware that what Jesus did on the first Easter morning can also happen to you? Easter points to life after death. Easter represents that there is something more after this life is over with. Easter demonstrates clearly that “It ain’t over when it’s over”! What happened to Jesus on Easter morning can also happen to you too if you’re willing to follow these two steps:
You must first die
The Easter message is all about resurrection. In order for there to be a resurrection, there has to be a genuine death. This is the message that Jesus was trying to communicate to his friends in John 11:25. Notice the language in this verse. Jesus doesn’t say that he can raise somebody from the dead – he claims that he is the resurrection from the dead.
The death that Jesus demands is death to yourself. Dying to self means that you place your future, your finances, even your very life in Jesus’s hands. From that point forward, you don’t get the call the shots in your life anymore… He does! Essentially, every Christian has already experienced their own death. You must first go through the death of selfish desires before you can experience eternal life in Jesus Christ.
You live again
Only after you have surrendered your life – taken up your own cross – and follow Jesus, are you able to experience new life. Easter Sunday always follows the death of God’s Passover lamb. Without Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, there can be no empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning. Without experiencing your own death, you can’t really understand what it means to have a new life.
I challenge you to surrender your life to Jesus right now. You can do that in the form of this prayer:
Lord Jesus, I’ve made a mess of my life. I understand that my faults and mistakes deserve the punishment of death. I believe I cannot earn my way to Heaven. It was because of my sin that you were willing to leave Heaven and sacrifice your life for me on the cross. Your death paid for my sin. Today I surrender my soul to you. From this point forward, I relinquish control of my life. I will follow you anywhere that you lead me. I ask you to give me eternal life. I ask you to do an Easter miracle in my own life. Amen.
Now that you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, you’re ready to experience your own personal Easter miracle. The Bible describes this personal Easter miracle in Galatians 2:20. The guy who wrote this passage was once an enemy of Christians. He was a former Palestinian terrorist named Paul, who became a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. In this verse, he describes his own personal Easter miracle.
Notice, Paul says that it was only after being crucified with Christ that he was able to find new life. The idea of being crucified with Christ means that, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit, Paul put to death all of those things that caused him to live for himself. Now that the former Palestinian terrorist has been crucified, there can be a new passionate follower of Jesus who can live in his place. Paul makes it very clear; Jesus is now living in him because Paul no longer lives there.
This is the Easter miracle! This is the exact same Easter miracle that has happened to every genuine Christian who’s ever lived. This same Easter miracle can happen to you. If you prayed that sincere prayer today for the first time, we would like to know it. Would you please email us at CBC@Calvaryministries.com?
I hope Easter means more to you than bunnies and sundresses. I hope Easter represents a miracle that has already taken place inside of you.
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