As Easter Sunday passes, everyone suddenly begins to focus on Jesus. Everyone begins to focus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Everyone wakes up and goes to church--the whole day is focused on Him--but why are only certain holidays focused on Him? Why, when the world tells us that something happened on a specific day, do we feel the need to only think about it on that particular day? Why do we sometimes only give God our all when the world tells us that it is okay? So many people claim to be Christians but only feel the real need to go to church on days it is more accepted.
The world places all attention on Jesus on Easter Sunday every year. The world places their lives on hold for this day of the year to spend time in church. But what is different from this Sunday and every other day of the year? Every day we are commanded to remember what Jesus did for us thousands of years ago on a hillside on an old rugged cross. Jesus lived a perfect life and lived knowing His purpose was to die. Can you imagine that? You're the only point of living is to die. He had twelve friends, one of whom betrayed him. People mocked him, laughed at him, spit on him. Jesus went through a trial for calming an accusation that was true. Jesus was beaten almost to the point of death with whips that had glass and metal shards on them. Then he was nailed. NAILED to a wooden cross. A crown of THORNS was dug into his head. He was left to suffocate, suspended between Heaven and Earth, and for what? For people who, two thousand years later, do the same thing. People who two thousand years later are still mocking him and betraying him. His own people are at the foot of the cross, denying they knew him…
When we begin to think that just because we give Jesus our attention for one day of the year we are Christians, I am afraid that we have understood Christianity all wrong. We need to focus on Jesus every single day, of every week, every month, every year. There are no days off in Christianity. There is no one day that we count as the day we must celebrate Him, because why only celebrate what He did for one day? HE DIED FOR YOU. DIED. Jesus died for you and the world somehow thinks it's okay just to give Him their life a few times a year, how?
When we think of the Bible, we think of characters like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Esther, Ruth, Paul, David, Peter, John, and Luke, people who dedicated their entire lives to Jesus. All of the disciples except two were martyrs. All of these people sacrificed something for their God. Noah built an ark purely out of faith, Abraham moved everything he had, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, Esther risked her life to save her people, Ruth comforted her mother in law, Paul transformed his life, David was a man after God’s own heart, Peter was a fisher of men, John was a disciple, and Luke wrote a gospel account. These people did not just give their Savior one day, they dedicated their entire lives.
So, as Easter Sunday passes everyone suddenly begins to focus on Jesus. Everyone begins to focus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Everyone wakes up and goes to church. But what if we began to live every day as some do only on Easter Sunday? It is time to live for Jesus, no matter what others may say. Today is God’s day, let's give Him the praise, glory, and honor He deserves.
