This year I had one of the most special Easters I have
ever had as a Christian…What made it so special for me was the very real
experience I encountered with reconciliation.
You see, it is one thing to hear of something but to
encounter a tangible experience of it takes it to a whole other level ~ this is
why when people encounter Jesus they are never the same afterwards!
Reconciliation is truly what we remember and celebrate at
Easter ~ the way for all of humanity to be restored to a right relationship
with our creator God, through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Yet do most of us in our day-to-day lives really
encounter reconciliation often?
For those of you who may not quite follow what I’m saying,
let me break it down.
You see humanity and God were severed due to sin…Yep the
disobedience that occurred right back in the Garden of Eden…Yes that garden
here on Earth, where God was present with man, as it was created.
Yet when sin occurred God could no longer be in such
close proximity with man because He is holy, and man had become sinful…So God
in His great mercy sacrificed the first animal and clothed Adam and Eve, before
they left the garden to enter the big-wide-world.
The shedding of blood from this animal sacrifice was only
a temporary atonement for Adam and Eve’s sin...as were all the sacrifices which
followed.
Sin and humanity both grew, so much so we know of the
huge problem it created and resulted in the flood and later in God selecting a
group of people to be His own…The Israelites.
God’s people however found themselves as slaves…in
bondage to a cruel Pharaoh. Before their escape (Exodus) from Egypt and the Pharaoh –
there was the first ever Passover.
The Angel of Death was to pass over Egypt and God’s
people still slaves to not only Pharaoh but also to sin, needed to sacrifice a
lamb and paint the blood over their entry arch so that the Angel of Death
passed their house by.
This lamb sacrifice was still however only a temporary atonement.
Many years later God’s people were still in bondage to
sin, yet God in His great mercy decided to reveal to mankind who He is. So He made the way for permanent reconciliation
that is IMPOSSIBLE for mankind to achieve. He Himself became a human being and
became the All-sufficient Sacrificial Lamb.
God’s declared His children were not just the Israelites,
but all who loved Him and that He wanted His children reconciled to Him for all
eternity. All of God’s children were enslaved
by sin and needed the All-sufficient Sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ, through
whom they could repent of their sins, receive forgiveness and restoration to
God.
Praise our awesome God forever!
A decade ago I experienced forgiveness and reconciliation
with God through Jesus Christ and have finally understood the meaning of Easter
ever since.
Yet this Easter, 10 years
later I had another tangible taste of God’s great mercy, forgiveness, love and
reconciliation.
I had my brother home for Easter with me and my family.
Yet I had not only my brother-in-the-flesh home – I also had
my brother-in-Christ home with me.
My brother had been reconciled to God!
It was such an amazing time for me as a Christian to see
my own brother evidently a new man.
As we shared time together, the Lord ministered to me
through my new brother about my need for reconciliation with a fellow
Christian. I had felt very hurt by a
Christian friend and was not at peace with them…but God in His love convicted
me of my need to see this person face-to-face to work for peace and so I did.
God enable us to maturely discuss our problem and to have
peace with one another, so much so that we prayed together when we finished
talking and even had lunch together with my brother on Easter Sunday.
God’s reconciliation and peace is truly awesome…Hallelujah!
Love Melanie.
This post is part of the Christian Bloggers Google+ community April writing challenge, called #MyEaster2015.
