Love Has ComeSample

The Opportunity of Easter

Sometimes it is hard for us to recognize the blessings God has placed before us. Look back at your life and take stock of the time God has come through for you. Many times, he did so by bringing you to the end of yourself. And though this process was painful, it was good. You wouldn’t have it any other way. Every Easter, God presents us with a life-changing opportunity. The chance to surrender our lives to him so that he can have free reign to unleash his love upon us.

Surrender: The Opportunity of Easter

Love is a choice. It is a choice to give our lives away for the benefit of another. Upon the cross, Jesus willingly surrendered his life for us. He lived the sinless life we could never live and then he died a sacrificial death in our place. Because of his great love for us, Jesus gave his life away.

The question is: How will we respond to this great gift? It is not easy to surrender. It runs counter to our culture’s ideals of pride and self-sufficiency. But if we are honest with ourselves, we know the danger of living the self-serving life. We know the guilt of unforgiven sin. We can taste the bitterness of our past regrets.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. God has laid an eternal opportunity before us all. He has laid down his life for us. Will we respond in faith by laying our lives down for him?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? – Matthew 16:24-26

God could not love you any more than he already does. And he has proven his love upon the cross. Jesus gave his life for you. This Easter, respond by giving your life right back to him!

Reflection

What holds you back from fully devoting your life to God? How might your life change if it was fully surrendered to him? If we surrender to love, what is there to fear?

Prayer

Father, I will never fully grasp the love you have displayed upon the cross. But I ask you to help me know it more fully this Easter. Thank you that your love has come!