Hear from our Campus Pastor Tim Hartzler:
This time of year is often a time of relief at the passing of winter, and a time of joyful anticipation as we look forward to green trees and grass, the beautiful flowers, sounds of birds singing and children laughing as they play outside, as well as the warm kiss of sunshine. We eagerly look forward to celebrating the death and resurrection of our savior with friends and family. It is a time when we can truly appreciate life and all the wonderful things that God has done for us.
For some people, though, appreciating these things is not so easy. Working with kids from hard places means that we work with children that may not feel joy in the sun shining, or the birds singing. They have felt all too harshly the effect that sinful people have on the world around them. For children, this often leads to feelings of hurt, hopelessness, and worthlessness. And these feelings inevitably lead to some very difficult questions. How could I ever be worth saving? How could I ever earn my way into heaven?
This makes the Gospel message so vitally important. We are called to share with this hurting world the hope we have inside of us. Hope that we can be saved, not because of our own merit, but because Christ Jesus died for us. Romans 6:23 tells us that we have earned death as the wages, or rightful payment, for our sins. But it doesn’t stop there. It goes on to remind us that salvation is a free gift through Christ. We owed a debt we couldn’t pay, so Jesus paid it for us.
So this Easter season, let us soberly reflect on the cross where the payment for our sins was made and let us joyfully celebrate that the tomb is empty. And then may we be spurred on to share this hope and joy with a hurting world that needs it.
Comments