Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

As I've been contemplating the gravity of what Easter really means for us, I can't help but think that I am somehow just not quite getting it, I guess you could say. Up until tonight, I've probably spent more time picking out an Easter dress... and shoes... and the works... than I have really meditating and being purposely grateful for the meaning behind it all. I feel like I should be more somber, more sorrowful knowing that Christ had to die because of me. But instead, I spend the weekend going to movies, getting a tan (er, sunburn), and being preoccupied with anything and everything else, as usual. But tonight, being intentionally in thought about what this weekend really means, my thoughts were directed not to the crucifixion scene, nor the resurrection. I began thinking about the Passover and the Jews of the Old Testament. Looking back, I see that they had so many different feasts and festivals, such as the Passover, that God commanded they have every year because, like us, they were pretty stupid and had a tendency to forget what God had done for them, where God had brought them. God commanded they have these feasts every year as a remembrance, to 'commemorate' a great thing that God had done for them. And so it is with Easter and us today. It's not that we shouldn't be thankful for Christ's death and resurrection every single day. Of course we should. But God knows that we have a tendency to get very caught up in the busyness of our own little lives, and therefore forget how precious this thing really is, how imperative it is. It is because of the events of 'Easter' that we even have a foundation to our faith at all. And while we should be grateful for this every day, Easter is our Passover, in a way. It is our one day a year to go all out, to get really dressed up, and to really, truly celebrate. It is the day we are to set aside every year to commemorate this great thing that God has done for us. Namely, the salvation of our souls. So, get up in the morning. Put on your fancy Easter outfit, go to church, and CELEBRATE! Celebrate the very reason we have a hope at all.

"This is a day you are to commemorate, for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance."
Exodus 12:14