He is Risen!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to write an Easter related post or not, but I decided that I would. To be honest, not sure how deep this will go this year, but maybe next year (if I am still writing next year) I will have more to say. I think this may turn into a bit of a ramble to be honest, so sorry for that right now.

I am a Christ follower, and therefore Easter (and the whole weekend) is an important time.

For those of you that don’t know what it is all about then here is a very brief summary: Jesus is God and He came to Earth as a man just over 2000 years ago, lived a perfect life (yes perfect, as in He never sinned in any way whatsoever even though He was tempted in all ways), treated others in love, was betrayed by a friend, tried for crimes He didn’t commit, was crucified (Good Friday) and then three days later He rose from the grave (came back to life). He took on all of God’s punishment for sin for all humankind past, present and future. He then conquered sin and death. For those that turn to Him and truly ask Him to forgive them of their sins, then He has promised to say yes. Once that is done then a person is in dwelled by the Holy Spirit, and God only sees that. There is no longer any sin to be seen by God. It doesn’t mean we don’t sin, it just means we have been forgiven of our sins, and will be in heaven one day with God and everyone else that followed Jesus the Christ.

So, there you have a brief intro to the Gospel message. I do believe it, and I know that Jesus lives in me and helps me daily.

So, back to Easter. We, Christ followers, remember the day of His resurrection on Easter. This again brings joy to my life, but I tend to think about this more than just once a year. I thank God for His life in my life regularly. It is a normal part of my prayer life. I don’t think that giving the resurrection just one day a year is sufficient. I think that as a Christ follower I should think on that death and resurrection regularly. Some churches do this with communion, and that is great. But there are some churches that don’t do it at all or only at Easter and maybe Christmas. But I think that this event is something that is personal as well and shouldn’t be a church only thing. I want to acknowledge God’s greatness as much as I can. I don’t do it verbally very often. I tend to keep it to myself.

This morning while at church I was thinking about the music of Easter. I was trying to think of Easter songs that I owned so I could create an Easter playlist. Yes, my mind turned to music, no surprise there. I was trying to think of songs, and the truth was that I couldn’t come up with many. There are a ton of Christmas songs that I like, but there aren’t a lot of Easter songs. I know there are many “church” songs throughout history that talk about Easter, and they are good (well some of them), but I was thinking about the music I like. I was able to come up with a few pretty quickly and here they are:

Michael W. Smith – Secret Ambition

The Insyderz – Sacrifice

Snax (or Tasty Snax) – Redeemed

North Point InsideOut – Death Was Arrested

(If you have more songs for Easter let me know in the comments)

But that was it off the top of my head. I am planning to think more on this over the next week or so and see if there are anymore that I own, because I have to believe there are. At first I wondered why there aren’t more Easter songs, but then I realized it probably has a bit to do with the whole murder of Jesus stuff and how that isn’t really a happy thing to talk about. But it is a joyful thing. It was needed so that the atoning sacrifice could be made for all human kind.

Yep, it turned into a ramble. I pray you know the God. If you don’t then ask me about it. Or ask someone you know that is a Christ follower about it. It is more than a one-time thing. It is a life commitment, but it is a great one.