As Easter approaches, I begin once again considering how our God sees our observance of an occasion as I always do and also what He might truly desire of us in observance above any of our trivial, man inspired traditions . What I come away with in firm conviction is the understanding that the most trivial of my sins, the least of my crimes against God, had the power to forever damn me in His judgment of me and send me into unending torment. And that knowing this one thing in truth and as reality, is key to my correct posture before God in honor of His purpose in the event. That key being the horror of knowing that the price of my very least sin was the shedding of my Christ Jesus' blood and His horrible suffering, because the reality of this brings the deep rending of my heart in awe and gratitude and it makes possible my true joy at the relief of my sentence because of what He has done. I believe this is a part of what God would desire from us in observance of Christ's death and resurrection.
The events that we as Christ's believers and followers hold as Easter are far distanced from us in time, but no less a reality that I believe we must embrace wholeheartedly in the present or risk offending Him by mere secular tradition in response to what He has done in reality and for eternity. I hold that our hearts being rended, humbled with awe and gratitude for what our God has done for us should never diminish as long as we are the joyful beneficiaries of His eternal grace. The battle between God's truth of eternal reality and satan's deceptions and his devices intended to render us useless to our purpose for having been given life rages on. And without intention, it becomes easier and easier, as we're exposed to the world, to lose sight of the true reality of God, but "to those to whom much is given, much is required." Our grip on true reality as God has ordained it is a priority that we can't afford to lose sight of...
Consider. Cancer ... anyone having been affected by it or at least having witnessed its effects understands its aggressive yet silent, corrosive, and death dealing traits. Many of us have either known someone who has been touched so devastatingly wicked by it, or have dealt with it first hand. I've unfortunately witnessed first hand the suffering of some that I've held very dear in the past. It's a disease that strikes fear in the hearts of people young and old, rich and poor, celebrity and downcast. Its malignant state can cause the rampant spread of it's destructiveness throughout a human body potentially overtaking and destroying any possibility for the continuation of life ... much like the sin in the world has the potential to pervade and destroy the souls of mankind ... permanently.
If we were to truly understand the striking similarities between sin and the malevolent disease of cancer as God does, I believe that we'd begin to understand Him and His movements, both now and in the past, much more and suffer far less confusion about such things. Much as our minds and these temporary physical bodies may be threatened by the potential of the presence of physical cancer, our permanent souls are much more threatened with far greater terrifying consequence by the presence of cancerous sin. And our consciousness of its potential should be of far greater concern.
“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Luke 12:4,5 (NKJ)
It seems so inescapably evident that mankind has allowed his or her perception of reality to become so askew and momentarily deceived as to fear greater the danger to the temporary body in a temporary existence far greater than the looming threat of the eternal damnation of the eternal soul which is in fact his or her true and actual existence. Mankind consequently suffers blindness to the greatest threat to himself, the threat to which he so easily succumbs, the threat of the damnable sin that encircles him continually in the world around him.
The enemy of our souls has had century upon century to perfect his craft against mankind - hoping for the destruction of souls that our God holds so dear. The wine of his deception has flowed freely to all of the generations that have gone before us, but now as the end of his time draws closer, his efforts to pervert the understanding and perception of true, naked reality as God has ordained it have risen sharply. And much of the humanity in the world is drunk with short sighted foolishness that threatens to defy God's purpose for having given them life at all.
But for us, having confessed our sins and believing on Christ Jesus as our Savior sent from Father God to save us from the sins that would have condemned us to eternal death also...
"...They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." 1 Peter 2:8-10 (NKJ)
I believe that we act in response to what we truly believe and that a lack of response may be its own confession to an all-knowing God.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)
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