Our
culture celebrates two major holidays--Christmas and Easter. These define our
calendar year. Marketers use these religious observances as holidays to measure
their profit-and-loss margins. Christians celebrate the Birth of Jesus, first in
Bethlehem and later in Holy Week observances that conclude with Good Friday observation of the
crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem and his Miracle Sunday.
That thirty-three year life lived between Bethlehem and Jerusalem tells the surprising story of Jesus Christ. In that short span of time, history’s gate swung wide and God allegedly changed the course of human history. Consider the story of Ralph, an average thirteen year-old American farm boy.
Ralph rode to and from school daily on his horse. Sometimes he found it necessary to return home on very dark nights. On one such murky evening, Ralph approached a flooded stream. His horse refused to enter the swirling waters, but just then a neighbor on the other side of the dangerous stream opened his farmhouse door. That open door laid a gleam of hope across that rushing stream and both horse and rider entered the stream with renewed confidence.
During the intervening years, that same lad now distinguished as the nationally-known, syndicated radio preacher and popular United Methodist Pastor-author known as Dr. Ralph Sockman, recalled that incident out of his boyhood. He remembered the surging hope he experienced as a beginning teenager.
The distinguished Pastor could look back to this light-shedding experience from his youth that opened the way for other similar experiences in his life and confidently agree that Christ opened the door on the other side of death’s sullen stream, that Christ “brought life and immortality to light.” Christians joyfully recall this story, personally affirm it, and corporately celebrate it.
God broke in upon our world with the light of Easter to enable us to find our way out of this great darkness. Sadly, some only experience Easter as a time of offense and some as a time when the minister fails to recognize them from one year to the next. On the other hand, like Sockman, multitudes are still discovering for themselves this priceless gift of Easter and the significant transformation it makes potential in the life of every traveler.
Easter offers an extraordinary experience for potential healing of a broken life that now needs mending. It exposes the gleam of hope that nurtured people discover anew and afresh in dog days, dreary events, and hopeless times. It promises an equal opportunity occasion for discovering and nurturing a new life, one accompanied by a Living Christ.
In walking with Him, we can discover forgiveness for past sins. In His presence, we can find promises of ultimate victory over troublesome personal defeats. This God that was in Christ invites us, from the least to the greatest, to lay aside our spiritual uncertainties and walk confidently with Him--liberated from doubt.
Easter brings Christ’s invitation to accompany “Him” and experience “His” grace-filled trip, personally freed from the onslaughts of death, devastation, and defeat. Easter marks the ultimate turning point of faith: it celebrates the certain defeat of death and darkness; and, it reveals the certain promise of life unparalleled in grace, mercy, and light.
Walking with Him, we live on the rich dividends that come with walking in His Company. Seeking first His Kingdom, we become his primary priority. As we continue our journey with him, we eagerly await His future return and warmly welcome everyone that will to join us.
We no longer face a blind and uncertain future, a yet to be determined prophetic fulfillment when Christ will bind Satan and casts him into hell’s fiery pit. Rather, we live in a victorious present where he is already the Sovereign Lord of our lives and we celebrate the same counseling, comforting presence he promised us in John fourteen to sixteen (note 14:15-22).
The liberation of Rome during World War Two adds insight into our personal lives. An American Army Chaplain was preparing for a special Memorial Service. As he waited, he encountered a young American GI who begged him to use his Chaplain’s position as an occasion to announce the soldier’s presence in the service. The GI explained that he emigrated from Italy ten years before and moved to America and had not seen his mother during that time. He knew she would be present in the service.
The Chaplain not being in charge of the service, could not honor the request as such, but agreed: “When I am introduced you stand beside me. I am sure your mother will recognize you.”
That thirty-three year life lived between Bethlehem and Jerusalem tells the surprising story of Jesus Christ. In that short span of time, history’s gate swung wide and God allegedly changed the course of human history. Consider the story of Ralph, an average thirteen year-old American farm boy.
Ralph rode to and from school daily on his horse. Sometimes he found it necessary to return home on very dark nights. On one such murky evening, Ralph approached a flooded stream. His horse refused to enter the swirling waters, but just then a neighbor on the other side of the dangerous stream opened his farmhouse door. That open door laid a gleam of hope across that rushing stream and both horse and rider entered the stream with renewed confidence.
During the intervening years, that same lad now distinguished as the nationally-known, syndicated radio preacher and popular United Methodist Pastor-author known as Dr. Ralph Sockman, recalled that incident out of his boyhood. He remembered the surging hope he experienced as a beginning teenager.
The distinguished Pastor could look back to this light-shedding experience from his youth that opened the way for other similar experiences in his life and confidently agree that Christ opened the door on the other side of death’s sullen stream, that Christ “brought life and immortality to light.” Christians joyfully recall this story, personally affirm it, and corporately celebrate it.
God broke in upon our world with the light of Easter to enable us to find our way out of this great darkness. Sadly, some only experience Easter as a time of offense and some as a time when the minister fails to recognize them from one year to the next. On the other hand, like Sockman, multitudes are still discovering for themselves this priceless gift of Easter and the significant transformation it makes potential in the life of every traveler.
Easter offers an extraordinary experience for potential healing of a broken life that now needs mending. It exposes the gleam of hope that nurtured people discover anew and afresh in dog days, dreary events, and hopeless times. It promises an equal opportunity occasion for discovering and nurturing a new life, one accompanied by a Living Christ.
In walking with Him, we can discover forgiveness for past sins. In His presence, we can find promises of ultimate victory over troublesome personal defeats. This God that was in Christ invites us, from the least to the greatest, to lay aside our spiritual uncertainties and walk confidently with Him--liberated from doubt.
Easter brings Christ’s invitation to accompany “Him” and experience “His” grace-filled trip, personally freed from the onslaughts of death, devastation, and defeat. Easter marks the ultimate turning point of faith: it celebrates the certain defeat of death and darkness; and, it reveals the certain promise of life unparalleled in grace, mercy, and light.
Walking with Him, we live on the rich dividends that come with walking in His Company. Seeking first His Kingdom, we become his primary priority. As we continue our journey with him, we eagerly await His future return and warmly welcome everyone that will to join us.
We no longer face a blind and uncertain future, a yet to be determined prophetic fulfillment when Christ will bind Satan and casts him into hell’s fiery pit. Rather, we live in a victorious present where he is already the Sovereign Lord of our lives and we celebrate the same counseling, comforting presence he promised us in John fourteen to sixteen (note 14:15-22).
The liberation of Rome during World War Two adds insight into our personal lives. An American Army Chaplain was preparing for a special Memorial Service. As he waited, he encountered a young American GI who begged him to use his Chaplain’s position as an occasion to announce the soldier’s presence in the service. The GI explained that he emigrated from Italy ten years before and moved to America and had not seen his mother during that time. He knew she would be present in the service.
The Chaplain not being in charge of the service, could not honor the request as such, but agreed: “When I am introduced you stand beside me. I am sure your mother will recognize you.”
The anxious soldier followed the Chaplain’s instructions to the
letter. Without a word spoken, the young GI stood beside the Chaplain. With the
Chaplain’s recognition at the proper time in the Service, a cry arose in the
audience and a tiny woman jumped to her feet and ran to embrace her long unseen
son. Mutual belief in the God of Easter dramatically reunited two believers--mother
and son after their ten years of separation.
A baby born in Bethlehem brought a gleam of hope that became a prophecy fulfilled--a reality, when God revealed himself through the resurrected Christ. In His Company, we discover God’s best for us - both here and hereafter. The words of those Old Testament Prophets became a living presence in the person of Jesus.
The Easter Celebration reveals the certainty of an unending victory in which Satan has no tomorrow and I celebrate it with you ... walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
A baby born in Bethlehem brought a gleam of hope that became a prophecy fulfilled--a reality, when God revealed himself through the resurrected Christ. In His Company, we discover God’s best for us - both here and hereafter. The words of those Old Testament Prophets became a living presence in the person of Jesus.
The Easter Celebration reveals the certainty of an unending victory in which Satan has no tomorrow and I celebrate it with you ... walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
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