April 4, 2007

It’s Easter week. What words come to your mind when you think of Easter?

Springtime. New church clothes. Easter bunny. Easter baskets. Easter eggs. 

And maybe, just maybe, you might think of words like Good Friday, crucifixion, tomb, stone rolled away and resurrection. 

Maybe, I said. Why?

John 10:10 says “The thief (or Satan) cometh not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy…” 

Think about our Christian holidays, and think of how Satan has tried to steal them and alter our thinking about them.

Thanksgiving is all about a turkey. Christmas is about some fat guy with a white beard. And now, on this most precious of all Christian days, he’s trying to steal Easter and give it to a rabbit! 

The Bible didn’t say that Satan could actually steal, kill and destroy – it says he CAME to do it! And if we read God’s word correctly, we’ll find out that Satan has to get permission before he can touch what God has created. He himself was created by God (Isaiah 45:7) and therefore is subject to the limitations that God has placed on him, just like anything else that God has created. 

I think it’s okay to allow our kids to have fun on Easter. Let’s remember to tell our children what the true story about Easter is, though, and that Christ paid a price – a dear price – for our sins. What Christ came to accomplish – “He shall save His people from their sins” – wasn’t something that was cheap or insignificant. 

He didn’t cut corners. He didn’t try to get by on 50%. He didn’t try to get out of his job responsibility. He said in John 18:37 “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.”

What better witness do we have that Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Prince of peace, the eternal and faithful witness, came to earth “in the likeness of sinful flesh”, was completely obedient to the will of His father, GAVE his life and was resurrected from the dead by the power of God? 

So take your kids to church this coming Sunday. Let them have fun with their friends and look for hidden eggs in their Easter Sunday clothes. And when the fun is all over be sure you remind them – and yourself – of the last part of John 10:10. 

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly!”