Where Is Our Easter Joy?

     While visiting with a dear friend of mine last week,  she shared about a radio program that really caught her attention and starting her thinking about Jesus's death and resurrection.    I listened intently to her with my mouth and eyes wide open.

      The radio program had Barbara Rainey sharing her thoughts on how far away we have come to focusing and truly embracing Easter and it's true meaning.   Barbara spoke on how there is no mention in the Bible about celebrating the birth of Christ.....but there is about celebrating Jesus's death and resurrection!  Wow....now that caught my full attention.

     Dave Boehi wrote an article for Family Life Today stating, "For me, the cure for the sickness of Easter Apathy is remembering what He has done in my life. God knew I was lost and unable to find Him by my own effort, and He took the initiative to send His Son to pay the penalty for my sin. He made me a new creature, and gave me a new life. Everything I enjoy today—my ministry, my wife, my children—is a gift from Him.  That’s the miracle of Easter."    I love the idea of remember,  looking back and embracing all that my Jesus did for me.   Remembering the "why" I needed to be saved and remember what He had to do to accomplish such an act of divine love!

      I must say that I have thought and meditated on this fact for days now and as always ....the Holy Spirit has fined tuned my thought process.  Where is my anticipated joy and celebration and focus with this most amazing holiday?   Have my thoughts been more on what that day with look like or with what does my heart look like in light of what my Jesus has done on the cross?   So, if I am to be completely honest...this is a lot of work to be done in this area!   So let's set aside our Easter bunnies and colored eggs for a moment and really examine what has happened to this special celebration.

     So at the bottom of this post you will find a couple of tools that I will be using (starting today) to help me remember, embrace and focus on the death and resurrection.    Using the Bible and these little devotionals will keep me going in the right direction.

     I am asking God to help me keep my heart, mind and spirit open to all that He wants to show me.   I pray that you too, will seek your own heart during this coming week and ask the Lord to show you all that He wants to reveal to you.   I'm pretty excited about this and would love to hear from you about what you already know and or desire to know in order to truly embrace, glorify and praise our Lord and Saviour for ALL that He has done.

John Piper's Devotional
Erin Davis's Devotional

Happy Holy Week,
Debbie