I always seem to look for the easiest and most painless way out. I have never once asked for suffering. Not once have I invited misery or strife into my life.
I want to experience growth and development in my life and character without suffering.
Just like I want the benefits of Easter without paying the price of Good Friday.
I am old enough to have plenty of experience upon which I can look back and see how the trials, pain and difficulties I experienced throughout my life have created some of the most important elements of my character. Sure, while in the middle of the storm, I struggled, questioned God and asked for relief from my immediate circumstance.
Yet the experience of bearing hardship strengthened me and prepared me for greater challenges that lie ahead.
Just as this. What would Easter be without Good Friday?
The cost of our redemption, a big word meaning to be saved from our sin, was covered by the sacrifice Jesus made. Someone had to pay because the God of the universe is a just God – and I am grateful for that. However, we are on the wrong end of God’s justice because of the self-centered choices we’ve made in our lives. Jesus stepped in to pay the price for our freedom, so we didn’t have to.
Then, and only then, do we get Easter. The freedom. The glory. The life-giving knowledge that we can enter God’s kingdom, now and forever. And that the Father will never hold against us any sin we have or will commit so long as we have a truly repentant heart.
I love that there is such a thing as Easter. A pardon from our Father.
This wouldn’t be possible without the pain of Good Friday. And the best things about me wouldn’t be possible without the challenges, pain and suffering I have experienced in my life.
[photo credit: kid z world dot com]
Richard Bahr 