Seven Gifts in Your Easter Basket from Jesus (Part 2 of 2)
Today we conclude our two-part series on the gifts Jesus resurrection brought us. What are the last three gifts in your Easter Basket from Jesus?
4) His People You may have never thought of God’s people as a gift to you, but imagine a world without family or fellowship with friends. Companionship is a gift from God. When God created Adam, he said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). He knew isolation was not a part of our genetic makeup. However, Jesus took this a step further. As Christians, he commissioned us to “make disciples of all the nations.” He asked us to “love our neighbors as ourselves” and to “feed his sheep.” His people are a gift to us, but do we have a heart for them? Do we love unconditionally? Do we pray for them regularly? Post resurrection, Jesus entrusted mankind into our hands, but with this gift comes responsibility.
5) Hope What would life be without this present from God? Like little children anticipating the egg hunt on Easter morning, we anticipate a day when there will be no more disease, no more tears and no more pain. This hope only comes through the cross. When I think about what life has tossed me since my own salvation experience, it is hope I cling to. I know that if a worst-case scenario happens, Jesus, who now lives in me, will guide me through it and provide for me in the midst of the trial. He always has and always will. After Jesus rose from the dead, the Apostle Paul said a great mystery has been revealed to the Lord’s people. “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
6) Eternal Life When Jesus’ dear friend, Lazarus, died, Jesus traveled to Bethany to comfort his friends, Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha raced out to meet Jesus on the road and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” If you read between the lines, by now Martha thought Jesus could raise her brother from the dead, but there was still an element of doubt. Later, when Jesus commanded mourners to take away the stone at Lazarus’ tomb, Martha worried about the stench from Lazarus’ body, now dead for four days. Did Martha already forget her own declaration, just minutes earlier? Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Then Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It was a foreshadowing of what was to come for all believers. He told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). As Lazarus emerged from the tomb, he told those standing by to “take off his grave clothes and let him go.” How many of us live with one foot in the grave, rather than with one foot in Heaven? One day we will take off our grave clothes and will reside forever with God and his Son in Heaven. It’s a gift we cannot purchase, sell or trade. It is ours if we believe.