Last time I posted about a couple of my thoughts when it came to Easter. I had another thought while writing that post that was connected but didn't really fit in with what I had already written. So, here is Easter part 2.
Have you ever read the book of Leviticus? I am attempting to read through the Bible this year and while I was reading Leviticus, I was amazed at how much the people of Israel had to do in order to make themselves clean and presentable before God. There are rules upon rules upon rules for everything from which type of animal to bring for each different type of sacrifice, to an extensive list of actions that will make you unclean and thus require you to be apart from the rest of the people for a specified amount of time followed by specific actions to purify yourself and thus be allowed back into camp. Then a thought hit me...since the crucifixion, we don't have to do any of that.
As a matter of fact, since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for my sin, my first coming before God to offer my life to Him is as a broken and filthy sinner. No sacrifice was required on my part, because the sacrifice was given by Jesus. As Christians on this side of the crucifixion, we can come before God any time we desire and lift up our praises, concerns, struggles and victories to Him. As I thought about this, a third thought struck me...what do we do with this freedom?
When we go to church, do we revel in the freedom from the law and freely give ourselves in passionate praise and pursuit of our Lord and Savior? Sometimes... However, we also do a whole lot of thinking about ourselves. We design worship centers with great acoustics and hire worship leaders who will play the style of music we like (complain if they don't). We buy padded chairs to sit in and expect the thermostat to read 73 degrees anytime we are there (if it is too hot or too cold, or if we have to stand too much we complain). We create Sunday School classes that will cater to various age groups and interests so that we can study what we want with people we are comfortable with. We do all this and more in the name of reaching the lost, but then we refuse to invite people to come; and if visitors do come we are often to busy talking to the people we know to notice them much less welcome them.
I know that this is not true of all Christians all the time, but so often we take our freedom in Christ for granted. Rather than going to church for the purpose of loving and passionately pursuing the God who sent His son to give us freedom, we have made church about us and our desires. May I challenge you with something? This Easter as you go to church to contemplate the crucifixion and celebrate the resurrection, ask God to remind you of Jesus' sacrifice. Then if the pastor preaches 10, 15, or even 30 minutes past noon, thank God for the opportunity to enjoy that padded seat and climate controlled air and focus in on that which was given so that you could enjoy God and look forward to the day when you will join Him in heaven. We are extremely blessed, we should live like it.
