A man who was completely innocent, offered Himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including His enemies… It was a perfect act.

Mahatma Gandhi

This time of year is a bit peculiar. The stock market and banks shut down. School lets out. Many businesses close. People have parades with beads and scantily clad women. Grown-up men hide eggs with cash and prizes. And some people, for only the first or second time since last year, go to something they call “church”.

But those who have looked to the only true source worth looking at -the Bible, know better. They know that the death of Jesus is not about festivals and days off and painting chicken eggs pretty colors. Now don't get me wrong. I’ve always liked the days off from school and the tasty candy the Bunny brings. But this is not what the crucifixion of Christ was meant to be about.

It is about salvation!

The world, sadly, does not get that. They see an opportunity to profit by commercializing an event that was never intended to be thought of as an annual, for-profit holiday. But the crucifixion is not about parties andprofit.

Jesus was arrested, insulted, slapped, spat upon, and beaten by the Jews.Then He was handed over to be insulted, slapped, and beaten by the Gentiles. Then He was scourged, a process by which a man is whipped by a lash with things like little bones, pieces of pottery, and metal fragments tied to the end. The flesh is literally mutilated by this process.

He was then led out to the place of execution where He was stripped of His clothing and nailed to the cross.

He hung there for hours, while people walked by and hurled insults and made fun of Him. After all that, He asked God to forgive them for what they had done.

Jesus did this because sin requires the shedding of blood. Our sin, yours and mine, crucified our Lord and Savior! The world does not understand this – and no wonder, for sometimes we who read the Bible fail to grasp what Jesus has done for us… or the sacrifice that God made for us by letting His one and only Son take our place on a cross that we all have earned.

For God so loved the world…

Jesus’ death is not about Mardi Gras parades or Easter egg hunts… it is about the perfect, innocent Son of God taking our place on the execution stake.

It is about the cross!

And while this may seem foolish to those who do not believe, it is about our salvation… if we will now live for the One who took our place through that horrible death.

So it is not only about the cross and death, but it is also about resurrection and life eternal… for the One who died rose again! And we will, too, if we will now live our life for Him.

This time of year is about life! The world doesn’t get it. But those who listen to God’s word understand it fully!

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

I Corinthians 1:18, NIV

We live in the world we make.Anon

If you’re like me, you have lots of dissatisfaction with the world in which you live. We look around and see filth on the internet, filth on TV,filth at the movies. We see a corrupt political system. We see people taking advantage of the kindness of others. We see people who could work, but don’t. We see the academics in many schools being crowded out by political, psychological, environmental and theoretic nonsense.

Yes, we are dissatisfied with the world we live in… but what if the world we lived in could be one of our own choosing? What if the only things on the internet and TV and the movies were the things that we ourselves viewed? I don’t mean the exact content, but what if the level of morality on these entertainment venues was based solely on what we look at ourselves?

What if the world was a reflection of our lives? How much would people gossip? Would people be chaste or promiscuous, greedy or generous, honest or deceitful? Would people use alcohol or drugs, if our consumption was the standard? How much would people help each other out, or feed the poor,or show genuine consideration and affection for others?

What if everyone read the Bible the same as you, or worshiped as often as you, or prayed for the needs of others as faithfully as you?

The fact is that we do live in the world we make. Of course we are affected by outside influences, but we have the opportunity to positively impact them as well, if we only would.

And, come Judgment, God will be rendering His decision on our eternities based, not upon the world in which we lived, but upon the world that we created by the life that we lived.

What kind of world do you live in?

“You are the light of the world” Jesus