What does it mean to be an “Easter person”? Maybe Spring is your favorite season because you enjoy the weather getting warmer, the days getting longer and the beauty that comes with new flowers, budding trees and growing grass. For some this time of year is all about “Spring cleaning”, new clothes and baby animals. Maybe you are the kind of person who goes all out for each holiday and Easter means decorating eggs, cooking ham and eating chocolate. And for the sports fan we have Spring training, March Madness and getting back on the golf course. But other than Easter happening in the Spring do any of these things make you an “Easter person”? No!

  So what does? If it is not just longing for the end of Winter and the newness of life represented by daffodils and bunny rabbits, what does it mean to embrace the promise of Easter?

  Being an Easter person is more than just accepting the Biblical story of Jesus who was rejected by the Jews, crucified by the Romans, buried in a borrowed tomb and raised to new life on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). To be an Easter person is more than agreeing that hundreds saw Him alive (1 Corinthians 15:5-8) and that for the past 2000 years a billion people have believed He is Lord. To be an Easter person takes more than just acknowledging this historical reality, it takes acknowledging Jesus as Lord! It is not just believing the facts, it is believing in Christ! It is not just hoping the story is true, it is living our life story in light of the truth!

  Being an Easter person means living each day as if your past has been forgiven. Before He died, Jesus claimed to have the authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:5, 10-11). On Easter Sunday He proved it by defeating death and breaking the bonds of sin (Colossians 2:13-14). When we put our faith in the resurrected Lord our sins are forgiven and we are washed clean. This does not make us perfect or sinless, but it does mean that our identity is not based on what we have done in the past, but on who we are now in Christ. Easter people live each day knowing what Jesus has done for them on the cross, living confidently as a person pardoned from the guilt of sin.

  Being an Easter person means living each day in the present power of the resurrection. God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Spirit, and that same power is available to all who call Him Lord (1 Peter 1:3-4). We do not need to rely on our own strength or will power to resist temptation or to overcome sin, but trust God’s Spirit to live in us and through us, giving us daily victory (Galatians 5:16-18). We still make mistakes and have our times of doubt, but are identified by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Easter people live each day knowing that God’s Spirit empowers them, living victoriously as a person serving the King of kings.

  Being an Easter person means living each day knowing where you will spend eternity. Christ’s resurrection broke the power of death so that we could live eternally with God in Heaven. We know that this world is not our home, we are just passing through on the way to our forever residence that is being prepared for those who believe (John 14:1-4). We neither deserve nor earn Heaven, and we live each day knowing that eternal life is a free gift of grace given by God. We still enjoy this life (God made it for us) and too often lose sight of the finish line, but our identification is as one who makes decisions in this life preparing for the next (Philippians 3:12-14). Easter people live each day knowing that our citizenship is Heaven, not earth, living expectantly as a person created for an eternal relationship with the Father.

  Hebrews 11 describes Easter people as those who “...were still living by faith when they died. ...they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth... looking for a country of their own... longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

  Are you an Easter person?

Denis Whittet