As the joyous time of Easter is approaching, it is important to remind ourselves of what does Easter truly mean for us as believers? For many people, Easter is a time where we go to church and celebrate the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, but that is not all there is to it.
Easter celebrates our salvation from the bondage of sin. After Adam disobeyed God’s command, we were separated from God. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Through the shedding of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are redeemed from our sinful acts. Jesus paid the debt of the world on the cross and through His glorious resurrection, He opened the gates of Heaven to us. He granted us eternal life and defeated death. “He has delivered us from the power of
darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1: 13-14).
What does resurrection mean to us today? Is it just a historical event that took place 2000 years ago? What is the impact of our Lord’s resurrection in my life? St. Paul answers this question in Colossians Chapter 3: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).
We are raised with Christ by His resurrection, to be with Him, we must not have materialistic desires but instead, we should keep our focus on life with God in Heaven. This is especially true because through the crucifixion Christ lives within us, therefore we should do what is pleasing to Him. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
How can we apply this to our daily lives? Since our lives belong to Christ, we should give Him our time. This may be something that we find difficult to do as we have many tasks and we may face a lot of distractions like our phones for example. So we must make a realistic goal for ourselves to spend time with God every day and take away from the hours spent wasting time on our devices. It does not mean that we are not allowed to have a bit of free time, but it has to be in moderation. We should give God our tithes, this does not just mean donation, it also means giving God our time.
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there
will not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10)