Spring is not far away for those of us who live in the South. The
daffodils are already poking through the leaves scattered over the
flower beds and the days are longer. Christmas has been put away and
Pintrest is on to hearts and flowers, bunnies and lambs and Valentines
Easter will be here before we know it. Which brought on some serious
thinking. True we think of Easter eggs and baskets with chicks and
springs renewal. But this comes after a period of stillness, nature buried
in the whiteness of snow. Winter brings to close the end of a year,
but it promises a new awakening and a fresh beginning. Maybe that is
why spring is my favorite time of year.
So this new beginning seems to be what we celebrate at Easter. New Life, after
the death, of One who came to show us what love means. One who was
human like us and yet born without sin. He came from a perfect place
and was placed in the womb of a willing but imperfect women by a Spirit
Divine. There He became one of us. Born into an imperfect world, He
experienced all the lowliness of life that any human has ever know,
and yet He clung to the Good, the Giver of Life, and He never allowed
the ruler of evil to have a place in His heart. He said, "my Father and I
are One." He was the Promise, He gave His life to save us. This Promise,
made to all who decide and desire to be One with the Father, is
the Promise of life eternal.
It was no secret to our parents, in the garden of Eden, that sin leads
to death. That the wages of a path separate from God leads to death.
It isn't that God wants, us dead, on the contrary, He sent His Son to
give His life just so we can have life! To show us what living Life means!
So this was what puzzled me. True, man rejected Jesus (God) and what He
came to show us about God's love for us, but why did His dying mean
we could now be saved. What happened to make this possible?
I know that satan wanted Him dead from the moment He was born. The first time
was as a baby when satan, in control of Herod, wanted all the male
children under 2 to be killed. Then when Jesus started His public
Ministry there were numerous times people wanted to stone Him or
throw Him off a cliff. But Jesus waited to allow evil in humans to
take Him down the road to death until He had fully demonstrated His
complete and utter dependence and trust and faith in God the Father.
He won't let death come until all could see that He was one with God!
He knew in this Oneness with God He was safe from the temper, from
and power satan might hold sway over Him as a humans. As long as He never
severed His connection with God satan had no influence, no power.
Even as Jesus died He said, in Luke 23:46, "Into Thy hands I commit
My Spirit."
He had complete trust in God. No matter what satan tried to do, even
nailing Him to a cross where he destroyed His body, he could not take life!
We too, may die but he has no power over our eternal life. Our life is
a gift from God. Ours to have if we make the same decision that Jesus
made, to become One with God through the power that was available to
Jesus. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. If any man come to
Me he is a new creation. We are made new in our connection to Him, in our
trust and faith in Him, in His words, in His life, in His love for us.
We can do as He did and say, "into your hands I give my life," because
that is the only place we are safe and secure. We can build on a solid Rock
and that Rock is Jesus. The power over us is severed by that unbreakable
connection Jesus had with God and that is ours to have through Jesus. He
says to come and share His yoke...walk hand in hand. He is our life line.
So Jesus lives, death had no power, He came out of the tomb to live
free from the evil that tries to control and destroy us. We can be free
if we cling to Him, just has He did His Father. He has the power to defeat
the devil and in our own strength we can do nothing, but in Him all
things as possible.
That is the real promise of Easter...Life, and new beginning...a new
birth...as sweet and innocent as a new born lamb and little ducks and
chick. As beautiful as the first spring flowers and the first vail of
of green that is as delicate as a bride adorned for her Husband.
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