Easter reminder: Jesus died for you

Thinking ahead about easter/passover weekend, I’m reflecting on the reasons for observing it. I consider this to be the perfect weekend to consider who Jesus is, why He was born and died in such a gruesome manner.

Back in 2016, I wrote about believing in a Creator, which came after a period of searching for answers to make sure that I’m not just blindly believing what I was taught growing up. Since then I also rediscovered a personal Jesus, and how He was God’s plan all along.

There isn’t much written about Jesus’ early days, but some of His first words in public were: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. – Matt. 4 v 17. Repent, meaning to turn away, also implies that we turn toward something else. In my mind this is narrowed down to one thing: turning toward God. In every area of your life.

If we read the bible, we see throughout all the books that God truly hates sin, which is simply going against His design. In the Old testament, the only way for sins to be forgiven was through animal sacrifice, which was temporary and needed to be done every year. With the death of Jesus, God made the forgiveness permanent; it need not be repeated. The only way we can receive that forgiveness, is to believe in Jesus and as part of our faith, add the action of following Him every day through obeying His commands.

The bible promises us, that if we do this and receive forgiveness we avoid His wrath and receive His eternal blessings. A lot has been written about this. I am 100% convinced that we can choose between life and death. Life is with Jesus, forever, and death, well the bible doesn’t have anything nice to say about that.

Moving on to something that really triggered me a year ago: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” – Matthew 13 v 44 . If Jesus died a terrible death at the age of 33, in the prime of his life, so that I can avoid God’s wrath, why am I not excited to give my life up for Him?

That’s why I’m so happy to write this post. My life and everything I have belongs to Jesus. The bible talks about Him as Lord and Saviour. As Saviour; He was the perfect sacrifice for sin, as Lord; He owns everything.

This easter, consider Jesus, what He has done and what that means for your life. I’m not ashamed to talk about Jesus, and hope that one day, He won’t be ashamed of me, and invite me into His eternal kingdom.