The Abundant Life: Riches money can’t buy…
The abundant life will sometimes embrace illogical thought.
Most of us are logical thinkers capable of reasoning in a cogent way, but the abundant life realizes not everything beautiful or miraculous is logical. It isn’t really logical to mix the colors blue and green, yet there is no other way to see purple. It isn’t logical to think the smaller guy will win the battle, yet David killed Goliath. And I won’t even approach the logic of whom we choose to love.
Today is Easter Sunday, a time when we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and one of the few times a year some people come to church. One has to wonder how they would even know which Sunday they should come to church since the date of Easter changes from year to year, which is not logical.
Plus, the history of Easter is a bit confusing. No one knows the exact date of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, but scriptures tell us it was near the Jewish Passover. Therefore, Easter used to be a local custom celebrated around that time of year. As with all things pertaining to Christ, this became controversial because Christians were not all celebrating on the same day. So in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea decided a specific day should be set aside for this observance. Eventually it was decided Easter would be on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Hmm? Even when people try to simplify something, it’s complex.
Further complications abound today. For example, the East and the West observe Easter on separate dates because one uses the Julian calendar and the other uses the Gregorian calendar. I won’t get into the differences between the two because it would take too long, but suffice it to say it involves Julius Caesar, Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, plus 10 to 12 skipped days here and there when their calendars were instituted. Oh yes, and let’s not forget that both the Julian and Gregorian calendars follow the cycle of the sun and seasons, but Easter is calculated by following cycles of the moon (lunar).
Then the name itself is unusual when you think about it. The word “Easter” really has nothing to do with Christ’s resurrection no matter how hard we try to make it say that it does. Add to this an Easter bunny who brings candy and parents who hide decorated hard boiled eggs. I guess it’s a miracle we can focus on what the day is supposed to commemorate. It’s all so illogical!
However, in spite of all these distractions, the message of Christ being crucified, raised from the dead, and living will not be muddled. Pulpits across the world will proclaim this good news and many who only come to church this one day a year will hear it—and their lives will be more abundant because they do!
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“…I have come that they may have life and that they
may have it more abundantly.” ~John 10:10 (KJV)
