All across the world Easter will be celebrated this weekend. It is one of those Sundays that a person who does not regularly attend church may take a risk and give it a whirl. Moms will dress their little girls in sweet, perfect little yellow and pink and bow and frilly filled dresses. All in all, we want to present with our "best foot forward".
Man, I love Easter. And heck, I like to look good on Sundays too.
But, there is a message I fear will be 1) verbally presented in a sermon or 2) non verbally communicated through church goers.
The message is this: Be a good person.
Or maybe: Be just good enough that others and God see how awesome you are.
Or possibly: I've got it all together. Why don't you?
Jesus Christ never said we need to be good enough and have it all together. In fact, the opposite is true. He gave us permission to be free of the need to be good enough. None of us have "got it all together". Not one.
"For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sin sweeps us away like the wind." Isaiah 64:6
The message I wish I heard more on Easter Sunday and every Sunday in between is that the whole reason we are all going to church in the first place is to recognize the fact that every single one of us is a sinner, a "bad" person. But also to wildly and joyously celebrate that miraculously, amazingly, that is NOT the end of the story. Jesus died that we may have eternal life, despite the fact that we are sinners. Through HIM we can do righteous things. Yes, we can do morally good things. We can chose to be kind, loving, patient, forgiving, and generous. And when we step out to say boldly that we claim Jesus, God calls us to live in a way that reflects that exclamation. But NEVER do those righteous things merit eternal life. Not before you accept Christ and not after.
Instead, the message of "be good enough" is plastered across Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. And the message is look how successful, put together, perfect my family is. We live in a very individualistic world where it seems we all fall into the struggle of trying to gain our own glory, instead of God's. When we compare each other and judge each other and rank each other silently and try to one up each other, we are not living how God intended us to.
When we try to be superior, supreme, and satisfactory in our own right, we are walking in what I sometimes like to call "anti- gospel". We are listening to, living out, and preaching the absolutely wrong message. We can't ever be good enough. We have to stop trying to earn.
Instead, I propose that we are honest, vulnerable, and open about the fact that we DON'T have it all together. We are genuine and authentic about our shortcomings, sins, failures and weaknesses. We are warm and welcoming to others, no matter what they are wearing, their career is, their education is, their past is, or even their blatant sin is. We are straightforward and sincere about our enormous need for Jesus and HIS righteousness, love, and forgiveness. Because this IS how we are called to live.
"Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." Isaiah 26:19
Happy, happy Easter. May the message of the HOPE we have in Christ fill you. He is Risen!
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