As Easter is quickly approaching it's so easy to get caught up in pretty eggs, chocolate candy, and bunny rabbits. But as we know, that is a man-centered approach and has nothing to do with Christ at all.
Unfortunately, we even see this creeping into the church when they promote Easter egg hunts, chocolate bunny rabbits, etc.
Spring time is not synonymous with Easter.
But somehow it seems we tend to celebrate spring more than we do the resurrection of Christ during our Easter celebrations.
My goal here is not to go through the origins of the holiday and where Easter originated. I am aware it has pagan roots like Christmas. But I also believe we can take what Satan meant for bad and use it for good.
When I look back to the feasts mentioned in the Bible and compare those to our holidays. One major difference was striking.
Feasts are God-centered and our holidays are man-centered.
When the Passover is celebrated, God is the star of the show. His glory is put on display for the act of mercy bestowed upon the nation of Israel during the Passover in Egypt.
When Easter is celebrated, man is the star of the show.
Our glory is put on display as we give in to consumerism and buy candy, toys, and baskets to make our kids feel special. Some families don’t even mention Christ, His death, burial, or resurrection.
What about you? What are you teaching your kids about Easter?
What we teach our kids doesn’t stop with them.
It is taught to your grandchildren and their children also. It’s a legacy. The question is, what legacy are you leaving when it comes to the holidays we celebrate?
I have outlined five ideas to help you have a Christ-centered Easter versus a man-centered one:
Advent doesn’t have to be once per year at Christmas time. Christ is coming back so you can talk about His second arrival every day leading up to your Easter celebration. I recommend short little devotionals that talk about the days of Christ leading up to the cross and on Easter celebrating His resurrection. You can find the scriptures in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19.
You can buy books that focus on Christ and the true Easter story. Here are a few to help you get started.
If you purchase your children baskets, fill them with scriptures that tell them about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. You can sometimes find chocolate crosses (I’ve found some at Walmart in the past) and see there are a few left on Amazon.
Imitate the last supper and have a “Passover Feast” with your family and discuss how Christ is our true Passover Lamb and how He covers the sins of those who repent (turn from their sins) and put their trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Here are some Passover recipes you may find helpful.
Starting on Good Friday make your children aware of the significance of the day and inform them that Christ died around 3 pm to reconcile us back to God and take away the sins of the world. Our true Passover Lamb. Tell them about the burial on Friday and Saturday. Celebrate His empty tomb and resurrection on Sunday! Without it we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins. We serve a risen Lord! He is alive and He is coming back!!!
I pray these ideas help you have a Christ-centered Easter celebration this year as we celebrate our risen Lord! 🙌
For His Glory,