Easter is NOT cancelled

I hope your Easter was full of peace and promise and love.

Easter is very important. Not only should we remember that Jesus died on the cross for us but also that He arose. Death could not hold him. The tomb was empty. Nothing is more powerful than this resurrection power of Jesus. Nothing can overpower the power we now have through Christ Jesus.

Not cancer, war, depression, crises, death or coronavirus.

We have new hope, new purpose and new life because of the tomb being empty.

You have been made new. You have been made victorious.

Christ loves you so much that He took the suffering, the death, but then didn't let it stop there. He took away the only thing we ever had to fear. He gave us the Holy Spirit to comfort us. He gave us understanding of scripture.

This Easter was different than most others but I found it very peaceful. There was really no schedule, just worship, prayer, peace, and fellowship.

This Easter I think has forced us all to look at what we have and be thankful for it. We are stuck at home with our families, we can attend multiple church services, we have time to get in the Word, (it's not like we have anywhere to be). I enjoyed it very much. I hope next year, we can think back on this Easter and choose the peace, promise and power of the Resurrection over all other festivities. I hope we choose family, church, worship and the Word above dinners and egg hunts. I hope we see how this Easter may have been spent in the middle of a pandemic but for a day that was not our sole focus.

To me, the fact that Easter was in the middle of this craziness is no coincidence. God is sovereign overall.

I do not believe He made this virus because He does not desire for us to suffer, to make us ill, kill or cause worry- but I do believe He is using something absolutely terrible for His good.

This outbreak could've occurred at some other time in the year but it just so happened that we are seeing the peak over the most prominent day in Christianity. Jesus arose. He showed us the power to overcome disease and death and fear. They all died on the cross. They are no longer here. Don't allow them to take root in your life; that was already taken care of. We are going to be okay.

We have hope this week. We have the advantage of knowing that after the cross came the resurrection, so why can't we have the same hope about this virus? Friday was hard, but we got through because we knew Sunday was coming. This virus is hard, but we will get through because healing is coming.

I saw a thing that was saying how this year wasn't even going to feel like Easter. Let me tell you, if this year did not feel like Easter to you, then you never have experienced Easter. If this Sunday did not leave you begging for more Jesus and only to have more of Him in your life, if it did not leave you energized and excited about Him living, resurrecting, ascending, then you need to reevaluate.

This Easter was an important one. Easter is not cancelled, Satan is. Anything he created to distract and take away from the resurrection was cancelled. Easter was and still is very much alive and happening. We should celebrate it everyday.

You have no excuse to not be using this time to build a relationship with God during this time. You don't have social obligations or any plans. Most things are on a flexible schedule. Your kids are home, you should've already gotten your groceries, you shouldn't be going out (especially since this is the peak), so what are you going to use as your excuse?

Ask yourself that question when you are not feeling motivated. What is my excuse? If you come up with one, consider this- Jesus didn't come up with one when He suffered the most painful death. He got up, He still had you on His mind. You can afford to give Him a minute of your time because He paid the price for your life.

Matthew 28:18-20 leaves us with this :"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you."

That is what I will leave you with today. A simple commandment. Use this time to lead others to Jesus. Use this time to fix yourself with Jesus. He did the hard part. This is the least we can do. Keep His commandments; keep pursuing Him. Keep this weekend in your heart and remember how it feels- how it feels when everything else in the world stood still but Easter was NOT cancelled.

Praise God.