RIP YOLO: An Easter Blog

I wanted to write an Easter blog for Sunday but I haven't yet. I wanted to make sure to get my baseball picks out for my fellow sports fans. I also had to cram two Survivor articles in before tonight's episode, and there was the recent passing of two local high school students. There's been a lot to blog about in the past few days. At first I thought, should I still write this blog even though Easter's over? And then I thought, we should be celebrating Easter every day of our lives.

A question that is often asked is what is the meaning of the resurrection? Why did Jesus have to come back? Jesus' resurrection was symbolic for all of us. You see, Jesus it brought hope. It was symbolic for us all and it showed that we don't only live once. The resurrection of Christ shows that God isn't done yet. Jesus is still alive today and is still working. 

While Jesus said "it is finished," and I believe he meant it, he didn't mean that HE is finished. He meant that his ultimate sacrifice for us all has been complete and that there's nothing else we need to do other than accept Him and live for Him. Jesus + nothing = everything. That's the simple truth. Jesus + anything, isn't correct. There isn't anything we can do on our own power to get ourselves to Heaven. Jesus has sent out invitations to the Kingdom of God to everyone and whoever wants to join Him can. Salvation is free but it isn't cheap. It's not always easy to live a life for God's glory. In a very secular world that is teaching you other things. To young people, it's that the way you find happiness is through drinking, partying and having sex. Joy is attainable through Christ. But the fact of the matter is, works can't save you. Being nice, being a "good" person and following what the Bible says doesn't save you. The act of accepting to Christ is admitting that you can't do it on your own, and you need Him. You don't just need Him to get to Heaven, you need him to live a joyful life.

But going back to the fact that Jesus isn't finished. He's still alive today and is doing amazing things. Watch this God at Work video if you don't believe me. God is at work and he lives today. He answers prayer. He works in situation and He works in mysterious ways.

Throughout spring time and March Madness, we think about underdog teams. We all love the underdog. Florida Gulf Coast made it to the sweet sixteen in the tournament and I think most people wanted to see them go further. Eventually their underdog story ended. Jesus was the ultimate underdog. From his humble beginnings and being born in a manger, to falsely being accused and being betrayed and crucified, he was always an underdog. He was spit on and mocked. He had to wear a crown of thorns. He had his hands nailed to the cross. Everyone thought he was over, but he wasn't done yet. After three days in the tomb, Jesus miraculously came back to life. Jesus won. He conquered the grave. He conquered YOLO. He saved the day. There have been cinderella and underdog teams in sports that have won, the 1969 New York Mets come to mind- it kills me to say this as a Cubs fan...- but there have been underdogs to win. But they win, and that's it. Jesus' March Madness run never ends. Jesus didn't just win, he is winning. His love is never-ending and so is his grace.

The big thing is Easter is the death of YOLO. We will all live again after we die. And for those that choose joy, they will have everlasting life. Easter should be something we celebrate every day in the way we live our lives. We should be striving to be more like Christ every day. We should be turning from our sinful habits and letting God change us. Having Him draw us closer to Him.

And well, I guess that's all I have to say on this topic. I feel like I covered a lot of it in my Good Friday blog. Thanks for reading and I hope you had a happy Easter. He is risen! Hallelujah!