Celebrating Easter on the green side of the grass

The other morning I asked a co-worker how he was doing. His response was, "Great, I woke up on the green side of the grass." To which I replied, "Yes, but it could have been a lot better."

I think my response confused him and perhaps to you also, because I was thinking it would be better to go to sleep here and wake up in Heaven!

Do you remember what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:21-25? Let me remind you here: "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better.  I'm torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.  But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.  Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith."

Here we are at the time our world celebrates Easter. In general what is this all about? It is about a renewal, it is about hope; it is about the promise of life after death, proven by a resurrected savior.

For many people this is the only time of the year they think about this great message that demonstrates the power of God even over death. Death is not the end for those who have chosen to be called Christians, Children of God, it is only the beginning.

Paul also gives us these wonderful words on hope in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23: "But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.  So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another Man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.  But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when He comes back. "

I would suggest to you that this once a year holiday of Easter, brought about by the imagination of man, is not a just something to be remembered once a year. We are told in the scripture to remember the death, burial and resurrection of Christ each and every first day of the week when we assemble as God's children.

Celebrating Easter on the green side of the grass may be a good thing to do, but how much better when we celebrate continually in the presence of our God in Heaven!

Promises

Our Sunday morning Bible class is studying the topic of Promises to us as Christians. We are looking at the positive side of what our Christian life is all about. I don't know about you, but I need that reinforcement. Far too often I seem to concentrate on the "thou shalt not's" and not nearly enough on the positive aspect of our relationship to God. What is it that you concentrate upon? Where are your prayers centered? Do we pray that the bumps in the road be smoothed, or that we can endure the bumps as they come? Truth be told, a lot of what we are willing to endure depends upon what the rewards at the end of the journey. Often it is all about the promise....

We have a member of our family a little 7 pound dog named Chewy. She listens to our promises and remembers. We tell her, "Go potty and we'll give you a treat". She remembers... We tell her, "We're going to church and when we get back we'll give you a treat". She remembers (and if you forget she reminds you). At times, just the mention of the treat has her wagging from the tip of her tail to the tip of her nose.

What promises from God are special to you? What is it that you remember no matter what happens in your life? Which ones make you tingle with excitement? There are so many verses that deal with promises. One of my favorites is Romans 8:28, where Paul reminds us that no matter what is going on in our lives, in the end it will work out to good if we love and trust God. Or perhaps in 1 John 1:7-10, where John reminds us, that if we are God's child, his blood continually cleanses us from all sin. Also, no matter how we mess up, if we will truly repent and ask for forgiveness, he will forgive us. And of course his promise that someday we will be with him in heaven, no more vision problems, no more hearing problems, no more body aches or failure of body parts to respond (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). Everything is going to be brand new and as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

How about spending some time thinking about the promises, it will do you an eternity of good!

INGNORING WARNING GATES

This past week at my work place they were doing some work with a forklift, loading material about 16 feet high on racks. Company policy is that you block the aisles on both sides of the place you are working. This way if there is an accident and something is knocked down, no one is in danger. I was a spotter (someone assigned to watch and make sure no customers came into those areas). I had just put up the aisle blocking gates when two men walked up, pushed the gate aside (with large yellow warning signs on them, which said: "Warning! Do not enter!" and walked down the aisle. I called them back and they were somewhat indignant as I tried to explain, but they protested that they could not see anyone working in the aisle and didn't see any danger.

It seems we are compelled to test limits, but not necessarily by "human nature". In the book of Genesis we read of Adam and Eve being given one "Don't" by God: "Don't eat of that particular fruit!" With what appears to be only a small whispered suggestion by Satan they chose to eat the fruit anyway.

In the New Testament we are given moral and ethical directives, yet people proclaim, "You can't tell me what to do!"; "I'll live however I want;" "I can choose my life style".  Listen to what the Apostle Paul proclaims: "Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people; none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

I know that there are some who will read this and say that I am "Homophobic", "A hater", that my beliefs are not "Politically Correct". But please notice; it's not what I believe that is important, but what God's Word says. When you remove the warning gates put up by God, you "exchange the truth about God for a lie, and worship and serve created things rather than the Creator", (Romans 1:25).You may not be able to see the danger, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. You might be tempted to believe those who say, "The bible is old and outdated and doesn't apply to us anymore." But ask yourself, "Does God's word have an expiration date"? James tells us in James 1:17-18, "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us His true word. And we, out of all creation, became His prized possession."

Maybe you don’t see the danger, but could it be that we or our world is listening to the whispers of Satan to just ignore the warning gates put in place by God for our care and safety? I would suggest that perhaps we and it does.