Easter is an incredibly meaningful holiday for Christians, though I do not think we will grasp the full significance of the resurrection until we see Jesus.  I struggle, though, trying to comprehend all that Jesus did (and continues to do) for me—sometimes finding it difficult to align my heart and my understanding with His awesome sacrifice on the cross and the power that raised Christ from the dead—recognizing that same power is alive inside of me through faith. 

Oftentimes I focus so much on my personal vulnerabilities, the weakness of my humanity, and the daily struggles of life that I forget that I am an overcomer in this world “because He who is in [me] is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4); “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4, 5).

I remember, many years ago being a part of a church that condemned “emotionalism” in Christianity.  I recognize that some churches have developed some unbiblical, crazy practices in their services; yet as believers in Christ, we cannot separate our emotions from the worship of our risen Savior.  In fact, the week between Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey amidst shouts of praise and the waving of palm branches, and the day that He defeated death through His glorious resurrection, is commonly referred to as Passion week. …not because of our passion for Him but for His amazing love and passion for us.  How can we not share in that passion with our total—mind, will and emotions—devotion to Him?

Our greatest caution in worship is that we not become like those who praised Jesus on Sunday and then turned around to deny Him on Friday.  We also must be careful not to reflect the attitudes of the Pharisees in our judgments of how others express their worship and love for the Savior—the scandalous story of the “sinful” woman who poured the alabaster flask of fragrant oil over Jesus’ feet, washing them with her tears and wiping them with her hair, reminds us how outrageous our devotion seems to a skeptical world.

Jesus told this parable to the critical spectators, “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.  One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.  And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.  Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more? …Do you see this woman? …I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:41-42, 47).

It is possible (I speak from experience) to be such a “good”, law-keeping, church-attending, religious person that does not recognize that the debt each one of us owes to God is no less than the woman caught in adultery.  Sometimes our human nature catches up and overtakes us in overt sin, but often attitudes of pride, self-righteousness, rebellion, greed, covetousness, bitterness, hatred, judgment or criticism (to name a few) run as a looped tape in the background of our hearts and we do not recognize the insidiousness of sin within us.  The joyous news is that as we acknowledge the fallen inner workings of our souls, the more reason we will have to praise him for His amazing grace “that saves a wretch like me.”

I find that writing about Easter is difficult because of the vast amount of eternal significance bound up in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; yet there are some effects of the resurrection that hold particular meaning for me right now:

Because He lives, my heart is comforted with the hope that I will again see my mother, who died when I was four years old, again.

Because He lives, I know that the same power that raised Christ from the dead resides in me and will give life to my mortal body—and I am being kept for an eternal inheritance through the power of the Holy Spirit.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for [me] who [is] kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).

And best of all, because He lives, through faith in Jesus, my sins are forgiven and no principality or power of the enemy can have dominion over me.  “…you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:12-15).

For these reasons, the stony alabaster box encircling my heart is broken and every part of me responds in worship to the Savior.