Easter is all about love. Jesus showed His genuine love for us by
willingly dying on our behalf on a lonely, abandoned cross. However love
cannot be permanently killed, and three days later He was alive again.
And the best part is, He offers us the possibility of becoming truly
alive for eternity as well!
Love sure makes a difference. Take,
for example, that day in the airport when I heard the following words
addressed to me: "Please sir, step aside!"
Utterly confused, I
stepped aside as ordered. I had carefully removed any metallic objects
from my pockets, and I certainly didn't like attention riveted on myself
in such a high alert security area!
The security agent then took
my briefcase that had undergone a thorough x-ray examination, and
removed my Swiss Army pocket knife from one of the side pockets. I had
purchased that knife in Switzerland three years earlier, I had placed it
in that bag about a year ago for a camping trip, and I had completely
forgotten it was there!
"Is this yours?" he asked chillingly.
I couldn't deny it. It was truly my own pocket knife.
"You
have three choices," he said. "You can either throw it out, you can mail
it back to yourself, or you can put it in storage."
Unfortunately, there was no post office anywhere nearby! The only way I
could mail it back to myself was if there were a self-addressed, stamped
envelope hidden in another pocket! That one was completely out of the
question! And storage? That would mean going back out into the main
airport and having to go through security yet another time!
Now
the knife was a nice one, and it served as a wonderful reminder of a
previous trip to Switzerland. But was it really worth the trouble? I was
about to opt to choice 1, when my wife jumped in with, "You can't throw
that knife away. It's special to my husband." She then volunteered to go
back into the airport to find a place to store it. Before I could do
anything, she was already gone with the knife.
Only one tiny
problem: She had no money with her! Hopefully we could pay the storage
area when we came back from our trip!
Half an hour later, she
passed the security check again. Her smile made her stand out amongst
the many passengers that were far from elated about what was awaiting
them.
"So?" I asked.
"Storage was 5$ a day. Way too
expensive!"
"Then you threw it out."
"I did better than
that!" she laughed. "There is more than one way to solve a problem,
especially when you pray!"
She had hid it under the railing of
one of the airport elevators, completely out of sight, and sure enough,
once we were back from our destination, my Swiss Army knife was still
waiting for me!
That is love, my friends, pure unselfish love. My
wife didn't have to go to all that trouble. I was ready to throw the
knife out, but she saw it differently. If that knife was important to
her husband, than it was worthwhile to take any necessary efforts to
secure its existence.
It's then that I realized just how much God
really cares for us! A broken relationship is never ideal, and we humans
have done a pretty good job turning our backs on our Maker. Nonetheless,
God loved us so tenderly that He couldn't just sit back and watch us
join the ranks of thrown away pocket knives, so He did the impossible:
He sacrificed Himself to a horrible death, the death we deserved, in
order that we could experience Him again, forever this time!
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's
friends." (John 15:13, NIV2)
This Easter we also have three
options:
1. We can ignore Easter completely.
2. We can
toss it in the garbage. This we can do either by being content with
chasing after Easter eggs and eating ourselves sick with Easter
chocolate Yummm Yummm! . . . Really? Or by simply being indifferent
about the reason behind Easter. Who cares about resurrection anyway? We
are all going to die! . . . Isn't that faulty logic?
3. Or we can
pursue the real reason behind Easter. If it hadn't been for Jesus, there
never would have been an Easter to celebrate, which means no Easter
eggs! (Where did these come from anyway?)
Easter is truly built
on pure, undiluted love. Easter bunnies may be tasty, but God's love is
even tastier!
Rob Chaffart
The Three Options. The Question About Love, Part 3
Today's Bible Verse:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another." (John 13:34, NIV2)
The Three Options. The Question About Love, Part 3
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