Special Easter Edition

This is an extra special post in honor of Easter. Today’s post kicks off a 5 week series, which begins tomorrow, all about release. I thought it was important to start with the ultimate release that we receive from Jesus through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave.

My entire life is built upon this sacrifice and yet it is so hard to describe what it means to me. It is too big for words. I’ve felt this way since I was a little girl when I made the decision to follow Jesus after I heard what would become my favorite verse in the Bible. It is one of the first that I remember memorizing in Sunday School, and it is the one that I think of most often. I will never tire of pondering it. It will never lose its effect on me.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8; NIV

These words make me pause in reverence every time I say them. I know the classic verse when talking about salvation is John 3:16 because it gives a fuller picture of our requirement of faith and His gift of eternal life in one tiny sentence, but to be honest, eternity is rarely on my mind. I stand in complete awe of Jesus when I consider the fact that He knew who I was and yet, He did it anyway. For me. Right here and right now.

While His death offers eternity, it also offers forgiveness today. He didn’t just provide freedom from the shame and guilt of sin after death; He provides it each and every day. Forgiveness of sins is not a ticket to heaven eventually; it is an offer to be made clean every time we come to Him. How overwhelming to be loved in such a way that releases me from everything I think I am to be everything He says I am, each time that I ask.

I don’t have to live in shame and guilt for my poor decisions and less than loving actions. I am not forever condemned because of my mistakes.

The incredible thing about the cross is that it not only pays the cost of my sin each day, it resurrects my soul again and again. This is how I began a Re.defined life and how you can too! When my soul felt dead from the circumstances of life, Jesus’ resurrection from the grave defeated death and gave life back to me. He rolled the stone away and allowed me to walk out a new person.

In the ultimate act of love, Jesus released us from the bondage of sin and death, today and forevermore.

The shame and guilt because of our sinful nature don’t have to steal our life away. We don’t have to live bound and afraid. The weight of the world doesn’t have to keep us in the grave; we can rise again to find wholeness and health in Jesus. There is Re.lease. There is freedom.

P.S. If you’ve never read the book of Romans, I encourage you too, as it is a fantastic summation of relationship with Jesus and Christian doctrine.