Stuff That Matters In Life

It is the resurrection of Christ that makes all the difference for us.

This is from Gary Bauer‘s End of the Day Report for today:
It Is Finished! As we approach the Easter holiday, this is a good time to reflect on exactly what it is that we as Christians are celebrating. And it’s not chocolate bunnies!

Christmas is the “big holiday” of the year, when friends and family gather to exchange gifts. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the whole “holiday season” of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and it seems we often overlook Easter and its significance to Christian believers. Ultimately, it is not the birth of a man born into this world that we celebrate; rather, it is His death and resurrection as the living Son of God. If Christ had not risen from the grave and ascended into Heaven, he would have been forgotten as a common criminal whose birthday would have no significance. It is Easter, not Christmas, that makes us Christians!

Today, on Good Friday, we think about the Cross and the sacrifice paid for our sins; the amazing love that took our place; and the grace we have been given. That kind of sacrifice is almost impossible to imagine.

But we see a small glimpse of it everyday in the service of our courageous men and women in uniform, who sacrifice their todays for our tomorrows. We see it in the firefighters and policemen who are trained to risk their lives to save strangers. Through their deeds we see that life truly is precious and worthy of protection, each person made in the image of our Creator. With Christ’s resurrection, Christians have confidence. We have confidence in a caring Creator, rather than the chaos of the cosmos.

We have confidence in a glorious future, rather than the finality of the grave. It is this confidence that sustains us in times of trial and tribulation. Why do we have such confidence? Because “It is finished.” Christ’s atoning work on the Cross is done, and we are saved!

On Easter morning, we do not gather to remember a martyr. We come together to worship the risen Son of God!