The Easter season is a unique time of the year. For some, it means buying a special Easter dress, or sharing a special meal with family. For the kids, it often involves an Easter basket filled with candy and special treats. At Dayton Center Church, it also involves our Easter Brunch, which many reading this will have already enjoyed. All of these things are good, but may we NEVER forget that the reason for our gathering(s) is the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For the Christian, Easter is a celebration of hope. And we sure do need hope today, don’t we?
But, what is hope? For some, hope is merely wishful thinking or a positive attitude. In this world, those things are hard to maintain. The economy is a mess. World events give plenty of reason for concern. Retirement account balances are only a fraction of what they were just five years ago. As a nation we are struggling, and the rest of the world isn’t faring much better. Surely, there is more to hope than wishful thinking or a positive attitude. Surely, that is not the kind of hope we are referring to with Easter.
Sadly, apart from Christ, there isn’t much more to hope than this. However, biblical hope is much greater than the hope this world offers! Biblical hope is a confident expectation that is grounded in God’s Word. Hope came in the form of a child, born of a virgin named Mary. This child was and is the Son of God, Jesus, the Christ. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, yet suffered and died on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for our sin. But, praise God, the story does not stop at the cross, or even in the grave. Christ arose! He conquered both sin and death! Because of this, we who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have the hope of restored relationship with God now, and an eternity with Him in the future! That, my friends, is true hope—hope that does not fail!
Christ offers hope, and now is the time to receive Him!
In His grip,
Pastor Decker
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