Easter Remnant

The eggs were opened, the gift bags empty, the baskets left in disarray....day is done and Easter has come and gone. But it occurred to me as I was picking up this morning...that there is a little significance here that I have never realized before. Just as all the good stuff has been taken from the eggs and they have been left empty....so was the tomb left empty where once laid the body of a loved and cherished Lord. Easter remnants.

It is just a day of the year, a holiday on the calendar...and one that is celebrated annually...but what remnant has that holiday left on your heart and on mine? Have things changed since yesterday? Am I any different? And then I started thinking...we open and empty that which has been given to us in the way of gifts and surprises...but the reality of Easter is that we open our hearts and are filled up by the blessing of Jesus' life and death and resurrection.

We are to be emptied of the worry and frustration and chaos that life sends our way and filled with a peace and joy that covers us by God's grace. Instead of us being an empty vessel with no purpose God, through his son Jesus, has given us a stellar capacity to remain filled up with his strength, his comfort, his provisions, his wisdom, his truth, his power and HIS LOVE! We are no longer empty shells with no purpose...each one of us who beleive in this Easter story are to go forth with the confidence that Christ Jesus is within us...living, guiding, loving and encouraging us to accept the challenges that are before us and appreciate the blessings that surround us.

We have a choice each day to fill our basket with this one extraordinary gift that has been sent...the gift of a living bridge which leads straight to the kingdom of God by God for our renewal, our restoration and our transformation. It is a bridge that crosses the gap of living a life with penalties of sin (death) that we can not atone for to living a life of eternal freedom which we are not able to provide for ourselves (eternal life). Either we see our shell of life as empty or we accept it to be filled daily through the name of Jesus. It is not a fleeting gift of temporary satisfaction but a gift of excellent selection...chosen for each of us personally.

Now today when you are reflecting on yesterday's events...think for a minute if this celebration has changed you in any way. Was it just a day off...or a day
that turned your heart light on to see the true gift of life that we are able to celebrate each day.

Has Easter left a remnant....in your perspective...or in your perception of life alone vs life with Jesus? It was just a day....a day that changed the world and the lives of all believers. A day that was filled with forgiveness and love and sacrifice that outweights anything that we have ever known or will know. We were not there that day...but the story of Jesus continues to change generations upon generations of folks who come to know and believe and have faith in the power that God showed on that day....and the days that follow. This same God is the one who gently summons us and says ...come, come....come to me and I will give you the provisions that you will need for this day....and the next and the the next and through all eternity...God calls us to be filled with His Spirit... For the Spirit gives us the freedom to be emptied of the junk...and filled with lasting power and strength and grace that can only come from our heavenly Father.

1 John 5:20
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Easter time is an all time event....we may celebrate it on a day...but once we "get" its meaning...it remains in our hearts forever. Remants? yes for all those who believe in the name of Jesus ..our shells remain filled and our hearts overflow with His grace.

Dear Lord, let us not forget the gift that you gave us through you son....may it be a daily reminder in our hearts that you loved us so much that you sent your son to this earth to live and die and be raises again....all in the name of love for your children... Amen

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation he has allowed you to be in...for His glory will shine through.
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