Easter Changes Everything

I read a quote recently by the well respected Christian Author Philip Yancey about Easter. He said, "In many respects I find an un-resurrected Jesus easier to accept. Easter makes him dangerous. Because of Easter, I have to listen to his extravagant claims and can no longer pick and choose from his saying. Moreover, Easter means he must be loose out there somewhere."

Easter is by far the most important event on the Christian calendar. For Christians, our entire belief system rests on the fact that we have a living savior-- that Jesus actually died on the cross and after three days He rose again. You can’t have a living faith with a dead savior. Paul made this claim in I Cor. 15:14, "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty."

Without the resurrection, our preaching is useless and all who have put their faith in Christ is lost. It could be said that if the resurrection is not true, what difference does it make if David slew Goliath; Daniel spent a night in the lion’s den or if Jesus walked on water or fed the multitudes. But, we know that Jesus not only arose from the grave that day but He is still alive today! We are walking in the benefits of His resurrection every day.

Our faith is not based on a set of morals or creeds but is based entirely on the resurrection of Jesus Christ! The fact is no one can ever take away that experience of resurrection in your life. There was a day when you accepted Jesus as your resurrection and at that moment He became alive to you and in you. You received resurrection life the day you became born again.

Many people know the story of Easter but have not experienced the life-changing power behind the story. I cannot think of a better time to invite someone to hear the story and experience the same power that raised Christ from the dead. My encouragement to you this year as we approach the Easter season is to ask God, "How can you use me to introduce someone to the real Easter story?" This is the year of the American Harvest and we are the generation of harvesters!