We all love holidays and the happiness that they bring us. It's those special times of the year when we choose to schedule those family gatherings to catch up on life and just reflect on, "the reason for the season."
This past weekend, my extended family got together for Easter. In a conversation with one of my family members, I was stating how this Easter is kind of difficult because my college doesn't recognize Easter as a holiday. Therefore, we didn't get any days off of school and the homework load is the same, if not more, since the semester is coming to an end. Her response was something like, "I'm not going to give you any sympathy. That's life."
After she said that, I was kind of dumbfounded and didn't know how to respond. I had to reflect for a few seconds and evaluate if I had told her that because I was looking for sympathy- I wasn't. Yes, in a sense I was complaining about homework and having no college break...but it was deeper than that. I wasn't looking for sympathy, I was looking for agreement.
Throughout these 40 days of Lent, I've been reflecting on how vital Easter is. Most devout Christians know that Easter is the most important holiday. Yea, Christmas is nice and all, but Easter reminds us about what Christ did and who He is. Christ rising from the dead proved He was LORD! But with society watering down Christian holidays with elves and bunnies, it's easy to overlook the true reason for the season.
With all the endless presents that Santa brings during the Christmas season, Easter comes in a distant second place with only having an Easter Bunny give out some lousy candy. I find it amusing how there is a noticeable change in society during the Christmas Season. People are more cheerful, giving, and, ultimately, loving. But when Easter rolls around, no change can be found. Why is that? Why are people more prone to show God's love during Christmas than during Easter (Easter: the holiday where we remember that the Son of God was brutally crucified and nailed to a cross because of His great love for us).
It's simple: we get less during the Easter Season and, therefore, it's not as great. There's no build-up with Easter; nothing to look forward to (unless you really like candy). There's no reindeer, decorated evergreens, lights, or a fat, jolly man who gives us whatever we want. Easter is just kind of lame....to those who don't understand theology and have a relationship with God, anyway.
The truth is, Easter is Everything! It's the core of Christianity. Not only did God send his only Son to die for our sins, but Jesus rose from the dead proving that He really was who He said He was- the Son of God. I'm very thankful that Jesus was born, but Easter is the real deal. It's the epitome of our faith. The crucifixion story shows us how to live our lives as well. We are all called to take up our own crosses. And, like for Christ, it won't be easy, we'll endure some suffering, but the end results are beautiful.
Maybe if society would focus more on Easter instead of Christmas, we'd have less people complaining about how hard Christian life is. Maybe we'd have people more willing to endure hardships and take up their crosses to live the Christian life. Maybe we'd have people more willing to suffer to defend and spread their faith.
When people think about Christianity, they think about Christmas since it's the biggest, most celebrated holiday associated with Christianity. Therefore, people think being a Christian means things just get handed to you and life is always fine and dandy. They believe the lie that Christianity is about receiving, since the main reason Christmas is celebrated in the U.S. is to have an excuse to buy whatever you want and receiving endless, (usually undeserved) gifts. The simple mindset is: "If I choose to be a Christian, God will give me a good, easy life."
Now, imagine if Easter was the most recognized Christian holiday in society. The giving of God's only Son to be crucified. Jesus enduring endless persecution to give us eternal life. It's the true season of giving from the Ultimate Giver. The Giver of Life.
The great thing about Easter is it helps us reflect on the price that had to be paid for us to be saved from our sins and given the option of eternal salvation. Salvation wasn't just handed to us, it had a heavy price to pay. And Jesus took the fee upon his shoulders. Because of His great love for us, He was willing to go through the most gruesome treatment to give us a beautiful ending.
So imagine if people would celebrate Easter the way they celebrate Christmas. Maybe they'd realize that good things in life usually have a price. Maybe they'd be more willing to endure hardships in life. Maybe there would be less complaining about things not going their way. I mean, God forbid you'd be given trials in life to help form your character!
What I'm saying is, Easter gives you a whole new mindset of what life is about and what Christians are called to do. Ultimately, we are called to be like Christ!
Society has the Christianity all messed up and deceives us into thinking that Christmas is the best holiday. When, in reality, Easter is the ultimate holiday of Christianity. Why is Easter the most important? Somebody put it like this, "If Jesus had not risen from the dead, the Christian faith would be completely pathetic. If the resurrection didn't happen, if Jesus was still in the grave, it would be pathetic for us to "play church" and "follow the rules". But if He lives and if He is truly risen, then everything changes. We have a hope that can't be shaken. Death will die, sin will be abolished, Satan will be vanquished, and we will be changed."
You see, Christians have let society warp their view of these holidays. Society has said that Christmas is the most important, hence the long winter breaks in schools, colleges, and even some occupations. Society says Christmas is all about receiving material presents, not giving gifts of the heart. And what does society say about Easter? Nothing, really. It's the day of the bunny giving candy, but other than that, it's not worthy of school/work breaks or anything of that sort. Since society doesn't recognize Easter as the most important, Christians start to believe Easter isn't that big of a deal.
So going back to that conversation I had with my family member- I was stating those facts about Easter being hard this year not to receive sympathy, but to state how messed up this world is. I was saying those things to imply that it was hard to celebrate Easter and enjoy the time with family and friends when homework was consuming my mind and hindering me from fully enjoying the holiday.
I understand this is how life goes, sometimes. That the "real world" never ends and people always have jobs and work to do. But the problem I was having wasn't even necessarily with the work load, but with the fact that Christmas breaks always given. Having class start the day after Christmas would be unthinkable! Spending most of Christmas eve and Christmas day doing homework would be unacceptable. Christmas is such a high priority in this world. Having to work on Christmas Day is such a burden, but working on Easter really isn't a big deal. College breaks are always given for Christmas, while most colleges don't give any break for Easter. Easter- the most important holiday all year round- isn't even recognized!
So, I just wonder if the same response of "You won't get any sympathy from me" would have been given if it was Christmas eve and I said I couldn't fully enjoy the holiday because I had to travel back to college Christmas day to finish my homework for class the next day. Maybe the family member still would have said that, but I'm sure the majority of the human population would be appalled with that schedule.
If you can't tell, I'm a bit fed up with society making Christmas into a huge deal and completely neglecting Easter. Without Christ raising from the dead, Christmas wouldn't even be recognized because Christianity would be a joke! It's just so sickening to realize how far this world has fallen, which is why the Bible says not to conform with this world (Romans 12:2). And I won't.
This past weekend, my extended family got together for Easter. In a conversation with one of my family members, I was stating how this Easter is kind of difficult because my college doesn't recognize Easter as a holiday. Therefore, we didn't get any days off of school and the homework load is the same, if not more, since the semester is coming to an end. Her response was something like, "I'm not going to give you any sympathy. That's life."
After she said that, I was kind of dumbfounded and didn't know how to respond. I had to reflect for a few seconds and evaluate if I had told her that because I was looking for sympathy- I wasn't. Yes, in a sense I was complaining about homework and having no college break...but it was deeper than that. I wasn't looking for sympathy, I was looking for agreement.
Throughout these 40 days of Lent, I've been reflecting on how vital Easter is. Most devout Christians know that Easter is the most important holiday. Yea, Christmas is nice and all, but Easter reminds us about what Christ did and who He is. Christ rising from the dead proved He was LORD! But with society watering down Christian holidays with elves and bunnies, it's easy to overlook the true reason for the season.
With all the endless presents that Santa brings during the Christmas season, Easter comes in a distant second place with only having an Easter Bunny give out some lousy candy. I find it amusing how there is a noticeable change in society during the Christmas Season. People are more cheerful, giving, and, ultimately, loving. But when Easter rolls around, no change can be found. Why is that? Why are people more prone to show God's love during Christmas than during Easter (Easter: the holiday where we remember that the Son of God was brutally crucified and nailed to a cross because of His great love for us).
It's simple: we get less during the Easter Season and, therefore, it's not as great. There's no build-up with Easter; nothing to look forward to (unless you really like candy). There's no reindeer, decorated evergreens, lights, or a fat, jolly man who gives us whatever we want. Easter is just kind of lame....to those who don't understand theology and have a relationship with God, anyway.
The truth is, Easter is Everything! It's the core of Christianity. Not only did God send his only Son to die for our sins, but Jesus rose from the dead proving that He really was who He said He was- the Son of God. I'm very thankful that Jesus was born, but Easter is the real deal. It's the epitome of our faith. The crucifixion story shows us how to live our lives as well. We are all called to take up our own crosses. And, like for Christ, it won't be easy, we'll endure some suffering, but the end results are beautiful.
Maybe if society would focus more on Easter instead of Christmas, we'd have less people complaining about how hard Christian life is. Maybe we'd have people more willing to endure hardships and take up their crosses to live the Christian life. Maybe we'd have people more willing to suffer to defend and spread their faith.
When people think about Christianity, they think about Christmas since it's the biggest, most celebrated holiday associated with Christianity. Therefore, people think being a Christian means things just get handed to you and life is always fine and dandy. They believe the lie that Christianity is about receiving, since the main reason Christmas is celebrated in the U.S. is to have an excuse to buy whatever you want and receiving endless, (usually undeserved) gifts. The simple mindset is: "If I choose to be a Christian, God will give me a good, easy life."
Now, imagine if Easter was the most recognized Christian holiday in society. The giving of God's only Son to be crucified. Jesus enduring endless persecution to give us eternal life. It's the true season of giving from the Ultimate Giver. The Giver of Life.
The great thing about Easter is it helps us reflect on the price that had to be paid for us to be saved from our sins and given the option of eternal salvation. Salvation wasn't just handed to us, it had a heavy price to pay. And Jesus took the fee upon his shoulders. Because of His great love for us, He was willing to go through the most gruesome treatment to give us a beautiful ending.
So imagine if people would celebrate Easter the way they celebrate Christmas. Maybe they'd realize that good things in life usually have a price. Maybe they'd be more willing to endure hardships in life. Maybe there would be less complaining about things not going their way. I mean, God forbid you'd be given trials in life to help form your character!
What I'm saying is, Easter gives you a whole new mindset of what life is about and what Christians are called to do. Ultimately, we are called to be like Christ!
- If you're a person who sees Christmas as the most important holiday, being like Christ means receiving endless gifts in life.
- If Easter is the most important holiday, being like Christ means taking up your own cross and obediently doing your Father's will, even if that means you need to give your own life.
Society has the Christianity all messed up and deceives us into thinking that Christmas is the best holiday. When, in reality, Easter is the ultimate holiday of Christianity. Why is Easter the most important? Somebody put it like this, "If Jesus had not risen from the dead, the Christian faith would be completely pathetic. If the resurrection didn't happen, if Jesus was still in the grave, it would be pathetic for us to "play church" and "follow the rules". But if He lives and if He is truly risen, then everything changes. We have a hope that can't be shaken. Death will die, sin will be abolished, Satan will be vanquished, and we will be changed."
You see, Christians have let society warp their view of these holidays. Society has said that Christmas is the most important, hence the long winter breaks in schools, colleges, and even some occupations. Society says Christmas is all about receiving material presents, not giving gifts of the heart. And what does society say about Easter? Nothing, really. It's the day of the bunny giving candy, but other than that, it's not worthy of school/work breaks or anything of that sort. Since society doesn't recognize Easter as the most important, Christians start to believe Easter isn't that big of a deal.
So going back to that conversation I had with my family member- I was stating those facts about Easter being hard this year not to receive sympathy, but to state how messed up this world is. I was saying those things to imply that it was hard to celebrate Easter and enjoy the time with family and friends when homework was consuming my mind and hindering me from fully enjoying the holiday.
I understand this is how life goes, sometimes. That the "real world" never ends and people always have jobs and work to do. But the problem I was having wasn't even necessarily with the work load, but with the fact that Christmas breaks always given. Having class start the day after Christmas would be unthinkable! Spending most of Christmas eve and Christmas day doing homework would be unacceptable. Christmas is such a high priority in this world. Having to work on Christmas Day is such a burden, but working on Easter really isn't a big deal. College breaks are always given for Christmas, while most colleges don't give any break for Easter. Easter- the most important holiday all year round- isn't even recognized!
So, I just wonder if the same response of "You won't get any sympathy from me" would have been given if it was Christmas eve and I said I couldn't fully enjoy the holiday because I had to travel back to college Christmas day to finish my homework for class the next day. Maybe the family member still would have said that, but I'm sure the majority of the human population would be appalled with that schedule.
If you can't tell, I'm a bit fed up with society making Christmas into a huge deal and completely neglecting Easter. Without Christ raising from the dead, Christmas wouldn't even be recognized because Christianity would be a joke! It's just so sickening to realize how far this world has fallen, which is why the Bible says not to conform with this world (Romans 12:2). And I won't.