Grace and Glory…
As Paul Harvey used to say, “and now…the rest of the story”. Today’s title is the start of the Scripture that ends, “…No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11b). If the story ended with the title, we’d be looking at the future only for those who know Jesus as their Savior. But praise God, it doesn’t end there for those of us who don’t know Him.
Easter is coming
and I can’t think of a better way to prepare for that day—which began as a day of extreme sadness because the disciples’ friend and teacher, who had been inseparable from them for three years, had been murdered three days ago before their very eyes. In their ignorance, they didn’t understand what was happening. They couldn’t have possibly been more sad, more discouraged, more lonely. But they were in for the biggest surprise of their lives. Jesus was alive! Unlike during The Tribulation when people give gifts to each other because of the death of the two prophets of God (Rev. 11:10), at Easter, God gives us the infinitely costly gift of eternal life with Him, all at no cost to us…FREE.
We tend to think of Christmas as the time for gift-giving. And it is. But it was just the beginning, chapter one, if you will. Easter is the final chapter of God’s “I told you so” love letter to the world. The best gift ever: salvation through The Lord Jesus Christ. What does Easter mean to the family of God? To begin with, our sins are forgiven and our relationship with our heavenly Father is re-established. That means we are now in line for every promise of God. Let’s look at the big picture and one of my favorite promises, a home in heaven with Jesus. Jesus promised, “I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14,2b, 3).
Why is that so special?
The psalmist answers: “…In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psa. 16:11). Many things in this world give us joy, our children/grandchildren, our faithful dog, a new car (for a few miles), good friends, and more. But ponder the word fullness, and then consider pleasures forever. Think how you feel when you experience joy in earthly things that will all be done away with. Now try to grasp that feeling never leaving you. I’d say that’s a pretty good start to what Easter means.
The next thing Easter provides is hope. As I look around society, the common denominator of misery, unrest, selfishness that abounds is lack of hope. We have hoped in technology. It has dumbed us down to the point of not being able to carry on a reasonable conversation. We have hoped in government. I don’t have to tell you how that worked out. We have hoped in riches. Fleeting. Gone.
Easter fills us with hope;
hope for the future, hope for eternity. We know that this world will not improve until a complete reboot happens. Easter shows us it will happen because Jesus is alive. The Bible puts it into perspective: “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (I Cor. 15:19). But we have hope because Jesus is alive and made us a promise.
So what’s the rest of the story? God is generous with His children. He wants us joyful. He wants us hopeful. He wants to give us good things. Why is there so much misery and desperation then? Read the qualifier at the end of our opening verse: “to those who walk uprightly.” Many of us are not willing to forego the pleasures of sin, which seem so fulfilling, so right because “everybody’s doing it.” First of all, everybody’s NOT doing it. Secondly, we must live by standards, even in a Godless society, there must be commonly accepted rules, or you have anarchy and total chaos. Nobody is safe.
God’s rules are not
meant to restrict our fun. If you look closely at what the world deems fun, you’ll see how shallow it is. It has no lasting value and must continually be tweaked to receive the same “pleasure” as yesterday (e.g. drugs). When the Holy Spirit is living is us, we have all the fruits—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control—available all the time. Doesn’t that sound better than the misery of doing life the world’s way? Easter is coming. Don’t miss the significance that can be yours because Jesus is alive.