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!