It is that time of year again.The stores are filled with candy eggs, chocolate bunnies, and marshmallow chicks.

My favorite of the candies is the Mini Robin’s Eggs which are actually egg-shaped candy coated Whoppers, and since this is the only time of the year they are available, I generally always indulge myself, at least some.

Kids and parents alike get excited about the idea of hunting brightly-colored real, and plastic eggs in hopes of filling their Easter baskets. Faces will shine with happiness as they tear into a chocolate bunny ear, or perhaps enjoy the sparkle of the colored jelly beans.

Generally families get together on Easter Sunday for some sort of meal, and most everyone goes to church, out of habit, but do they really understand the depth of meaning behind Easter exists.

This year in some parts of the country the whole idea of celebrating Christ's crucifixion and resurrection is such an offensive idea, that they want to change even the name of the Easter Eggs to “spring spheres". I am not exactly sure what they intend to call the Easter Bunny?

Sure, I realize that hunting colored eggs, shopping for marshmallow chicks, and the enjoyment of biting the head off that chocolate bunny is not the reason for the season, but the whole idea of Christianity being involved at all, even when it is not specifically mentioned is too much to stomach for those who want to dismiss Christ as nothing more than a myth.

PALM SUNDAY

This Sunday is called Palm Sunday, which signifies the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The crowd met him with cheers and the waving of palm branches as he entered. It may have been the only time where Jesus was actually praised in person for what he had done. I am sure many believed he was going to take them out of the captivity of the Roman empire.

Perhaps, it is some of the reason that the priests became afraid and decided to intervene, but to me the whole idea that he was surrounded by crowds lifting him up and less than a week later, he was hanging on a cross, the crowd mocking him? So easily he went from their hero, their healer, their savior to acting like what he did was nothing. Even his own followers said they didn’t know him.

CRUCIFY HIM!

As surely as he was their king, he also became the people quickly turned on him and by the end of the week he was hung upon the cross to die. He was not of this world, and therefore the world turned on Him.

Sometimes we can be faced with situations that are beyond our comprehension. It can seem that even those who were once our friends become our enemies when they are faced with the fact that being Christian means living the life. It isn’t just about the name on the door, but the life that we live. Some will even hate us because we do not live the life they do.

It has been over 2000 years and there are some who are still trying to remove Christ from the world. They will never succeed, but they hate Him so much because he challenges their lifestyle, deeds, and sin.  It is not that He comes out and tells them what is wrong, but He makes them take a look in the mirror and they realize who they are.

John 15:19 says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

REMEMBER

Before the world hated you, they hated Him. Because He chose you, they will hate you as well. It should be an honor to be hated for His name sake. See the thing is, even though they hated Jesus, they could not have taken His life. He willing gave it on Calvary for our sins.

There would be no Easter if He had not died. Yes, we celebrate because He did rise out of the grave, but in order to rise He had to die. We too have to die to live. We must die out to our old man. We must rise from the pit we were in and walk new in order to join Him, knowing that His mercy covered it all.

So, when you take a bite out of that bunny, remember. Remember, there would be no Easter Bunny, no colored eggs, but most importantly, no salvation had there not been a cross on a hill where Jesus died.

FREE TWITTER BACKGROUND

In honor of Easter I have included a FREE downloadable Twitter page for anyone who is interested. The dimensions are 1216 x 983 pixels.

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