A Christian Holiday for the Non-Believer

Over this past weekend, I had the joy of being up at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to gather with Christians all over Australia to celebrate Easter. For many, Easter is just another holiday. A time to have a break from work or study, and enjoy spending time with family and friends. One of my biggest surprises every year is how we still publicly acknowledge Easter here in Australia, to the extent that school holidays are shaped around when Easter falls each year. Yet for me, Easter is very personal. It is a time to focus on the events nearly 2000 years ago that led me to writing this piece. It is such a blessing that I am able to openly and freely talk about how Easter is about God redeems humanity back to Himself through the blood of the Son. It is a time to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of my life.

At the end of last year, after two years of dabbling in and out of university, I finally figured out that it wasn’t for me. This raised the question of “if not uni, then what?” For my parents it was a bigger question than it was for me. I was happy to see how this year played out as I went to Bible college to study there. What I have found there is a heart for mission, a heart to go to the lost. To answer my parents question of “then what?”, I want to be a missionary. I want to go to where the gospel isn’t, so that some may be saved if the is what the Father wills. I want to seek and save the lost in the same way that I was saved.
By now, you’re probably wondering what this story has to do with Easter. For me, and for Christians all over the globe, Easter is the story of how God came to seek and save the lost. Jesus is the way for the lost, the truth for the foolish, and life to dead. He is my joy, my hope, my all.

So whether you agree with me or not, I urge you to consider one thing:
Is Easter just another holiday to you?
Is Easter just a time to catch up with family and friends? Is it a time to take a break from the business of life for a weekend? If so, there is nothing wrong with that. But it’s so much more than that. Back on the first Good Friday and witnessed by the resurrection on Easter Sunday, death died so that you could live. The God of the Universe died so that you could know His grace.

My favourite account of Jesus’ death is in John 19:30. It reads, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
It is finished. My debt fully paid. My sin completely forgive. The wrath of the Father completely taken upon the Son so that by the Spirit I can receive life. Those are the three words that saved my life. Have they saved yours?

Amen.