One Thing That Often Astounds Me About Easter Season by Precious C Philip

I don't know if anyone else observes this but I noticed that once Easter arrives, every Christian takes to their social media platforms to share quotes, videos, pictures, and posts about the death of Jesus and His resurrection. Everyone switches over to a religious mood. People suddenly become grateful and thankful for the death and resurrection of Jesus. But the moment Easter is over -the instant Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday passes, these same Christians that celebrated Jesus' death and resurrection immediately become ashamed of Jesus publicly to the extent that they cannot share a single post about Jesus on their social media pages: they cannot share His teachings in the Bible; they cannot share scriptures; they cannot champion the principles of Jesus; they cannot uphold the standard Jesus set on how His followers should live; they cannot tell the world about Jesus. How sad! What kind of gratitude and love did they render to Jesus on Easter? I am just wondering: did Jesus actually die and resurrect so that we His followers and disciples would remember, celebrate, and thank Him for His death for us and His resurrection only on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday? Did He really pay the great price He paid so that we'll only tell the world about what He did for them only on Easter season? 

Sincerely speaking, if the only time you open your mouth as a born again Christian to tell your unbelieving friends and relatives that Jesus died for them and resurrected to give them eternal life is on Easter, it is a shameful thing. If you only wait for Easter to tell the world that Jesus died for you, it is disgraceful. If the only time you remember that Jesus died for you is on Easter season, your Christianity is very questionable. If the only time you remember to tell the world that Jesus died for their sins is on Easter, something is wrong somewhere. If you only dim it fit to celebrate Jesus and advertise Him to the world for dying for your sins on Easter, your fellowship with Jesus has a big question mark. And if the only time you thank Jesus publicly and privately for dying for your sins is on Easter, hmm, your walk with Jesus is really questionable. 

I'm very sure that Jesus is not impressed if the only time you feel proud of Him and unashamed to talk about Him on your social media platforms is on Easter season. The rest of the year -you feel ashamed to tell people He died for their sins so they can live eternally in Heaven; you feel ashamed to tell the world about the love of Jesus and encourage them to turn away from their sins and accept Jesus and live. "You honestly cannot experience the love of Jesus and the salvation He offers and feel ashamed to tell those around you about Jesus. It is impossible!" 

1 Peter 2:24 testifies "Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness"(GNT version). Another translation puts it this way: "Christ carried the burden of our sins. He was nailed to the cross, so we would stop sinning and start living right"(CEV version). Yet another says "Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you" (GWT version). This scripture reveals to us one of the major reasons Jesus died for our sins: to become dead to sin (stop living in sin, live above sin, be free from the bondage of sin) and live righteous lives. This implies that if we're celebrating Christ's death and are yet fondling with sin/living in sin, Christ is not being pleased because we're not truly grateful for His death on our behalf. 

Please beloved reader, if you're still living in sin, if you're still secretly indulging in sinful practices, Christ died to give you power over sin. He died to free you from slavery to sin. Don't allow Christ's death be in vain over your life. One of the painful things you can do to Jesus is to reject this power He has secured for you to live above sin and continue being a slave to sin and die to spend eternity in hell outside His love. It was the great love He has for you that sent Him to the cross to die the death (eternal separation from God in hell fire) meant for you and to pay the debt you could not pay. Please reciprocate His matchless love for you. Jesus loves you. No matter how deep you may be in immorality, He died to set you free from it. You can be free today if you humble yourself and call on Jesus. Whoever the Son of God sets free is free indeed (John 8:36).

Are you born again but living in secret sin or living a hypocritical lifestyle, please know that the sin you're commiting in secret may be hidden from man, but it is not hidden from God. And the serious part is that, you'll not be judged after your death by men- so even if your sin is hidden from men, it makes no sense because you're not safe. You'll be judged by God after death (Hebrews 9:27) and your secret sins hidden from men are open sins before Him because He sees everything we do in secret. That is why the Scripture warns us in Ecclesiastes 12:14 "God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret." Therefore, please confess your sins to God and turn away from them. Open up to someone trustworthy and capable of helping you out of that secret sin and be free. Sin thrives in secrecy and the devil works best with secret sins. But once you expose the sin, he loses his power over you and you gain victory. "You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you (Proverbs 28:13).

Confess that masturbation you do in secret to your spiritual leader, pastor or mentor. Tell someone about that secret battle with addiction to porn. Open up to a spiritually mature brother or sister about that fornication you practice in secret or that prostitution you practice secretly. Confess that secret sin. Talk to someone about it. Seek help and counselling from a spiritual leader or mentor and be free today. Stop pampering that sin. Stop tolerating that ungodly and unhealthy habit. React fiercely against it. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Let the marvelous work the death and resurrection of Jesus did become a reality in your own life; let his death and resurrection not be a religious event you follow religious Christians to celebrate on Easter. 

Side note: If you are really grateful that Jesus died for you, it'll show in the present lifestyle you're living. You'll be living for Christ and not yourself. 2 Corinthians 5:15 testifies this: "He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life WILL NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES. Instead, THEY WILL LIVE FOR CHRIST, who died and was raised for them." 

Shalom!