Easter
Coloring Easter eggs can be fun. We can color them with solid colors, or make them two toned. And sometimes we can swirl the egg in rainbows of brilliant colors. I like easter eggs.
Somewhere this Easter lays a person in a hospital bed stuck in a coma. And this person won’t be able to color easter eggs this Easter. So God will have to color Easter eggs for them. That really is the point of Easter.
God comes down and does for us what we can’t do for ourself.
Without God, We really are stuck. We run our lives on fear, doubt and anger. We are so focused protecting and taking care of ourself that we often don’t see how we hurt other people. It’s so ingrained in our being that it’s automatic. We lash out. We fight. We say things we regret. We take. We manipulate. We destroy.
We shove God away, and we can’t help ourselves. We aren’t righteous – not even close. So God has to be righteous and restore the relationship for us.
On the cross, Jesus came down and did for us what we can’t do for ourselves.
Baptism
When we are baptized, we declare the old self dead. This is the self that lashes out, that fights, that says things we regret, that takes, that manipulates, and destroys. And when we raise up out of baptism, a new self lives. Baptism brings us into the center of Easter.
When we are baptized, the old self is dead, and yet, like an unwanted zombie, it’s still hanging around. The new self that we want to live gets shoved aside by our old self. We need more of God’s help. We need God to live in us so that our new self can live and learn to love to the fullest.
God continues to come down and do for us what we can’t do for ourselves.
Heart Attack
In 2005 I had a heart attack. Around this time, I had a thought: what if I had died and come back? What if the old me that was encumbered with doubt and fear and that let circumstances and others dictate my actions had died? And what if a brand new me came back to life that could live free of all those things weighing me down? What could I do with my life? How many people could be transformed because of me?
The very next thought I had was that I could just choose this new life. I could decide that my life wouldn’t be run by self-preservation and external control. I could just cast off my encumbrances.
My heart attack, in a very real way was a second baptism for me. My old self died and a new self took his place.
I live this new life now, and yet some days my old fears, my old sense of low self-worth, and my old sense that life is happening to me still comes up. It’s a not just a battle. It’s a war. I’m stepping out in courage and fear at the same time. I have one foot on the gas and one foot on breaks. I need God to fill and power my 2nd life to give me courage, strength, compassion, and faith.
Oh how I always need God to come down and do for me what I can’t do for myself.
You
This Easter my hearts desire is for you to know in your inmost being that God is for you, not against you. He is not actively working to keep you away. He is actively working bring you near. And when you fall short, when you feel unworthy, when you make a mess, God wants to fill in the gap, to restore a relationship with you.
When you have shoved God away and life seems so messed up, God is right there waiting for you to let Him do for you what you can’t do for yourself.
Happy Easter
