The Meaning of Easter in 2010
By Eddie Fleming
What does Easter mean? What could it mean? For the atheist it means fantasy. For the post-modernist, it means whatever you want it to mean. For the believer it means reality. It means all that the Old and New Testaments contain are true. It means Jesus is who He says He is and can do all He promises to do. It means Hell is a reality that can be avoided and Heaven is a blessing that can be obtained.
We live in a day of individualism, criticism, sarcasm, racism, sexism, and nihilism. We search for love and happiness in all the wrong places and worry about everything for all the wrong reasons. Almost every family has experienced the hardships and sorrows of life. We’ve been ravaged by cancer, devastated by divorce, and enslaved by drugs, alcohol, and pornography. Can Easter help us?
All that has happened has done so in the shadow of the cross and in the light of the resurrection. Have we failed to realize that in the death of Christ we have proof of God’s love for us and in His resurrection we have proof of God’s power that’s available to us? It’s a power that raised Christ from the grave and delivered Peter from his cowardice. It’s a power that can make us more than conquerors when faced with cancer on the inside or bad circumstances on the outside. It can deliver a bad marriage from certain divorce and transform bad circumstances into blessings. It can break the shackles created by drugs and alcohol and open prison doors made of bitterness and unforgiveness. The hope of mankind doesn’t reside in a quality education, a certain political party in power, or a new world order, but rather in the power that raised Christ from the grave.
Easter means more than we realize or can imagine. It means more than a high attendance Sunday, or an excuse for a new suit or new dress. It means more than freedom from the fear of death and the hope of eternal life. It means the death of the Son satisfied the wrath of the Father. It means our sins can become as white as snow and our future can be as bright as the sun. It means we don’t have to live or think the same old way. We can be more than what we are and do more than what we do. We can really be a light for the world and salt to the earth.
The religions of the world have their holy books and their holy days, but only Christianity has its Easter. Other religions have their spiritual leaders, but Christianity has its resurrected Savior. Other religions can improve us, but only Christianity can transform us. Knowing what Easter means is one thing, but knowing what it could mean to each of us is something else.
What could Easter mean to you in 2010? It could mean more than it did in all the years prior. For the unbeliever it could mean a new heart and a new hope. It could mean a new way of seeing things and a new power to accomplish things. For the deceived, it could mean moving from the land of make-believe into the land of reality. It’s possible to be sincere about one’s faith, yet be sincerely wrong. I know how easy it is to go to an altar, in my case as a teenager, for prayer and confession because someone asked you to, not because the Holy Spirit convinced you to. I know it’s possible to receive assurances of your salvation from a minister, but not receive a Savior or the power to transform you. I know what it’s like to reject the convicting power of the Holy Spirit by listening to the convincing lies of Satan. I know what it is to focus on your prayer of confession for your assurance of salvation, while ignoring the Bible’s focus on transformation as proof of your salvation.
After I had been truly saved, God pointed out John 6:65 to me. “Then he said, ‘That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me’” (John 6:65 NLT). The Holy Spirit must convince us that we are lost and that Christ’s death and resurrection is our only hope and solution. Easter in 2010 can mean a new life for us and a new hope for those around us. For new believers and old believers, it can mean living in the power of Easter the same way the disciples did shortly after the first Easter. The possibility is real, the opportunity is now, but the choice is up to each of us.
