Easter is less than a month away! I hope your church will be open to celebrate as a church family the commemoration of the foundation of our Christian faith: Jesus Christ arose from the tomb and lives today in every believer’s heart! The Gospel! The Good News!
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if your church is not open, find one that is! Yes, it might take a little effort, but if there was one day out of the year, especially this year, that believers needed to gather together in praise, worship, and fellowship . . . it’s Easter. It’s time for churches to cut the chains on their doors and throw them wide open just like the tomb was wide open on Easter morning! Then stay open.
Covid canceled Easter in churches last year. Don’t let anyone cancel Easter for you this year! Yes, you can watch services online, which is awesome for those who are housebound and I’m so glad it’s available for them. But for those of us who are able to attend church in person, we need to be participating and professing together with our brothers and sisters in Christ as one body in God’s house.
People without a church family desperately need to be with us in church on Easter to experience the hope we have in the living Christ, our Lord and Savior who overcame the grave! Easter is a great outreach when many turn their life over to Christ. An important role of the church is to welcome those seeking the Truth or any who are lonely, depressed, discouraged, fearful. It’s not all about us, it’s about us being there for them!
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Rom. 12:4-5
Easter Reminds Us of Our Hope in a Fallen World
Without Easter, there would be no hope. Easter reminds us, and the world, that there is forgiveness for our sins and the assurance of eternal life. As the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians:
Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
When we ask Jesus into our heart and receive the merciful forgiveness of our sins that nailed Him to the cross, we experience a spiritual rebirth. Hallelujah! Then, as we grow in our faith, we need a daily empty-tomb reawakening not just annually at Easter.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3
Jesus lives within the heart of every Christian and He wants us to live as if we believe it! The Christian life is one of evolving renewal! We continually cast off old patterns of thinking and behaving as we transition into a richer more fulfilling faith.
But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. Col. 3:8-10
I don’t know about you, but watching the prevalent and even celebrated evil in our culture, I feel like we need an Easter season, not just Easter Sunday. A refocus of our heart and mind. A reminder of who we are in Christ and why we must continue persevering in His name and His purpose!
Store shelves and displays take commercial advantage of Easter to sell their products for over a month prior to Easter; shouldn’t we start NOW sharing the real message of Easter?! The world needs Jesus, let’s remind them of that message and prepare our hearts for sharing loud and clear: Jesus is alive!
5 Ways Scripture Helps Us Refocus and Embrace Renewal This Easter Season
1. Renew Your Mind
What we let enter into our mind—positive or negative—controls our emotions, actions, and beliefs.
What is bothering you right now? What is seeping into your psyche that keeps you up at night or troubles you during the day? Can you identify it? The news. Politics. Social media. Stock market. Cancel culture. COVID.
Whatever is stressing you, try a mental fast! Free your mind from everything that furrows your brow. You may never want to let those things have dominion over your thoughts again.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Personal Renewal: God wants us to rid our mind of worldly ways and saturate our mind with His wisdom. Proverbs is God’s Book of Wisdom, so try reading a proverb everyday and write it on an index card. When your thoughts begin to drift to things of this world, recite the day’s proverb. If you’re ambitious, read an entire chapter in Proverbs daily and in thirty-one days you’ll have read the entire Book of Proverbs. When you finish, start back at Proverbs 1:1. You can never be too wise!
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out. Proverbs 18:15
2. Renew Your Heart
God created us uniquely with our mind, heart, and spirit intertwined. A renewal of one affects the other two. A mind change touches our heart and our spirit nudges us to act according to our mind and heart. If our heart fills with compassion for a situation, our mind follows suit and again our spirit reminds us of how God wants us to act. We are to have the mind of Christ and what breaks His heart should break our heart too. Much in our world is surely breaking His heart!
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
Personal Renewal: Who could you invite to Easter services? Maybe you’ve asked them to join you at church before and they’ve declined or it’s someone you’re sure would say no. Perhaps your heart has become a bit hardened toward their spiritual future. Ask God for the courage to ask them anyway. This could be the Easter they say “Yes!” and their life changes forever.
If they say no, then commit to pray for them to say yes to God someday.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10
3. Renew Your Commitments
A commitment is a sacred vow, a promise, to honor your word. Commitment often involves a sacrifice of putting others’ needs before your own needs, even when it’s inconvenient or painful.
Our Christian faith hinges on a commitment we make to Christ to follow Him and adhere to His Word, whether it’s easy or difficult. At Easter, we remember the ultimate cost Christ paid on the cross to fulfill His commitment to save a lost world. Now he expects us to honor our commitments to Him and to others.
Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved. Ecclesiastes 5:6 NLT
Practical Renewal: Have you committed to something you wish you hadn’t? We’ve all been there. Learn from it and pray next time before you make a decision; but this time, follow through on your commitment. Backing out of a promise damages the credibility of your Christian witness.
All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37
4. Renew Your Testimony
There is no greater witness to God’s goodness than sharing what He has done in your life. No one can question your testimony because it’s your personal experience. The Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) isn’t just for disciples and pastors; it’s for every follower and believer of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to be an evangelist to share your story.
As we mature and evolve spiritually, we retell our testimony to benefit others. You and I are Christians today because twelve disciples obediently followed Jesus’ command to tell the world the Good News. They shared their personal experience with the gospel to anyone who would listen and with many who didn’t listen.
When we become Christians, our charge is to tell the world why we love Jesus! Your story becomes your testimony when the focus is on God, not on you.
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7
Personal Renewal: When you give God the glory for something in your life, you testify to God’s goodness. Your salvation testimony shares your life before Jesus. How He changed your heart and spiritually, maybe literally, saved your life. God has given you a story to share, so seize every opportunity to tell it. Sometimes God redeems your testimony by surrounding you with people who need to hear your past so it doesn’t become their future.
Who needs to hear this Easter what Christ has done for you?
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12
5. Renew Your Soul
Easter is springtime in our souls! God is calling His people into a closer relationship with Him so that we can share Jesus with others who need more of Him in their life . . . or don’t yet know Him.
The world is full of unsaved people stumbling in spiritual darkness and deceit. God calls every Christian to help the lost find their way to the light. When Jesus spoke . . . he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
We need to refresh, renew, and refuel our body, mind, and soul so the illuminating joy of Christ radiates from us!
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31
Personal Renewal: Let the songs you sing on Easter and the messages you hear, revive your spirit and speak directly to your soul. Bask in the glow that Jesus is alive!
If you’re ready to arise and be God’s messenger, start praying now for those divine appointments where God will use you in a hurting and lonely world.
I pray this Easter season finds you refreshed, refocused, and renewed in your relationship with Christ and the purpose He has given each of us to keep the memory of Easter alive and vibrant, every day in our hearts, speech, and actions. Let us never forget:
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Col. 2:13-14 (NLT)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16
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What an encouraging blog today. Yes, we all need an Easter Renewal of faith and commitment in our Lord, Jesus Christ. I especially related to ‘sharing our past so that it does not become someone’s future.’ How wonderful it would be for us to get real in person and not behind a mask of choosing. Whether it be a face mask mandate, social media or text. We all need personal relationships with others, face to face.
Churches also need to stand strong and cut off the chains that bind them not only physically but spiritually. Doors need to swing wide open this Easter and proclaim that HE is risen!
Again, I thank you, Janet-for standing strong and saying what needs to be said in our troubled world. You are always, spot on!
Blessings,
Kathy
Well said Kathy! This is our moment to take our stand for the living Jesus Christ. The tomb is empty and the church should be full. Thank you for sharing!
Very inspiring word. Thank you Janet.
To God be the glory Norm!