Reclaiming the Hope of Easter
Pastoral | March 28, 2024 | By: Michelle Clifford
What comes to mind for you when you think about Easter? I know for me, if I am honest, the traditions of Easter sometimes come to mind quicker than the true and profound meaning behind Easter.
He is risen!
Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is crucial to our faith. Easter marks a moment that changed everything for the believer! Jesus Christ not only lived a perfect life and died for our sins, but HE ROSE FROM THE GRAVE! He conquered the hold of death for all those who follow Him!
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Take a moment and really think about this. What would our faith look like without the resurrection? What would our faith look like without Christ rising from the grave and conquering death’s hold on us?
What would our faith look like without the resurrection?
What would our faith look like without an eternal hope of life after death with Him? What would our faith look like if our hope was just for today and offered nothing for tomorrow?
That is what our faith would look like without Easter, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It would still be more than we could imagine and deserve, but our God is so abundantly loving and gracious. He loved us so much that He not only made a way for us to follow and have a relationship with Him in this life, but He also gifted us with a means to follow and have a relationship with Him into eternity.
So, what I am left pondering this Easter is: do I live my life with the full hope offered to me from the work accomplished by Jesus Christ before, on, and after the cross? Further, what would that look like?
Do I live my life with the full hope offered to me?
Do I seek to model my life after His example? Do I readily encounter confession and forgiveness of my sins by the means and the work of the cross? And do I live like I have a greater hope offered to me, not just for today, but for forever?
Easter has a way of bringing all these questions to mind.
EASTER REVEALS TO US NOT JUST HOW JESUS CHRIST SAVED US BUT WHAT OUR SALVATION USHERS IN.
Life after death!
We have a hope. We have a future. We are no longer bound by death. We are no longer bound by sin that leads to death. We no longer need to cling to this world and the building up of our lives here; instead, we are freed to place our full hope in Christ and His Kingdom come.
We have a hope. We have a future. We are no longer bound by death.
Easter reminds me not only of the gift of my salvation but what my salvation frees me to. More of Him. In this life and the next.
OUR STORY DOES NOT END ON THE CROSS. A NEW BEGINNING HAS BEEN WON ON THE CROSS!
So, this Easter, my encouragement is to live saved. Live out your hope instead of living still in search of it. Live out your freedom instead of still working to earn it. Live out your rest; it is finished!
Consider how this shift in perspective could change how you live. How it could alter your decision making. How it could adjust your pursuits in this life. How it could alter the purposes behind your relationships.
Reclaim your hope this easter!
OUR HOPE IS ESTABLISHED! OUR FUTURE IS SECURE!
Do not miss taking a moment this Easter to celebrate the profound gift of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and all that it invites and offers to His followers.
So, today, reclaim your hope and live as those who are no longer on the hunt for hope but firmly rooted in it.
Why? So we can be freed to pursue more of Him and others! So we can be freed to walk in the spirit versus being led by the flesh. So we can be freed to live our lives seeking God’s glory above all else. So we can be freed to live our lives set upon God and share the hope we have with a world desperate for it! So we can be freed to walk in His great purposes and not settle for a smaller version of our own!
SO LIVE SAVED TODAY!
Happy Easter!
Michelle Clifford
Minister of Staff Development
Scottsdale Bible is a place to Get God. Get Real. Get Out There. With worship services at multiple locations and ways to get involved, we are striving to create a community of Christ-followers marked by unwavering faith and unconditional love.
Join our celebrations this weekend to experience the transformative Easter story with us! Visit EasterSBC.com for Good Friday and Easter service times at a campus near you.
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