New Beginings

I have the great privilege of writing this article during Easter week, the time of year when we celebrate the victory of the Gospel. It is a strange thing to declare victory after the chief figure in the story has recently been crucified in the most humiliating and painful way known to humanity at the time.


The Good News of Easter is entirely about the victory of Easter Sunday over Good Friday. The message contains hope in the midst of depression. The message offers forgiveness in place of guilt. The message restores relationships when there are hearts that are cold. The message offers clarity in the midst of confusion.

The message of the cross will not get you a raise at work, will not fill your bank account, will not make you popular, and it will not make everyone who has hurt you come and express their sorrow and ask forgiveness.

The work of Jesus Christ will offer you the strength to forgive even in the face of the injuring party never asking for forgiveness or confessing wrong. The work of Jesus Christ will enable you to see your part in the hurts that have driven you and your mate apart, and Christ living in you will help you to begin the process of restoring that relationship.

Easter is about new Life, not a different life. Easter doesn’t involve a remodel. Easter is about tearing down and starting over. Christ is not going to patch the holes. Christ is going to build a new you from the ground up.
Everyday, I see people trying to live their life apart from the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. I see them try to do right, try to decide wisely, try to restore relationships, and try to offer forgiveness. I think the problems come when they try to do this through their own will and effort.

Apart from Jesus Christ I am not a very forgiving person. It would be easy for me to dwell on the injustices done to me years ago. It would be easy for me to forget the injustices I committed even earlier this day.
Apart from Jesus Christ I am not very wise. It is easy to act quickly and pray later. It is easy to strike out rather than seek reconciliation or understanding. It is easier to throw out excuses for continuing down an unproductive, or even destructive, path than it is to do the hard work of turning around in humility and making our way back through forgiveness.
During Easter I am joyous that the one who conquered death continues to conquer sin, death, and failure in me and lead me closer to himself and his Eternal Life!

Pastor Craig