There is no Easter bunny. I lowered my head in disappointment and embarrassment.
An older playmate had just informed five-year-old me that Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny were mere deceptions. I had to grow up.
At least God remained safe. I held on to religious traditions: words, music, prayers and the atmosphere of spiritual unity. But my faith was like a cellophane-wrapped Easter basket of colorful eggs, beautiful but unopened. I hadn’t yet tasted the goodness of God.
Eventually I grew too smart to accept religion at face-value. What if it’s all a ruse, just inspiration with a dash of hope in an afterlife? Doubts entered my vacant heart, which opened to the strongest suitor, or at least the most attractive—the world.
I wanted God on my own terms. I resisted the notion that I needed to be “saved.” Wasn’t I good enough? But something kept me hunting for Easter. In college I joined a Bible study and began to pray, though I didn’t know why God would care to listen.
Everything changed when I finally accepted what the Bible said, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Then the stone rolled away for me. I found a Savior.
I’ve been blessed over the years in my spiritual journey to discover the riches of God in Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). But at times I’ve been smug, comfortably forgetful that I once was lost. Not always concerned for those who don’t know God.
Record numbers of people flock to churches on Easter Sunday—true believers, seekers, and many in-between. Like too many other Christians, I haven’t taken much interest in those who worship only on certain holy days. Maybe they look too worldly or wayward to suit me. But God is more welcoming. There’s more room in our churches and in his kingdom.
Christ died for sinners, not for Christians. “Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:4-6). His blood can cleanse the Hindu, who tries to purify his soul by washing in a place where rivers join. Jesus can redeem the Muslim, who strives to please God by conforming to pillars of faith.
God does not wish “that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). This includes the hardened criminal or the avowed atheist—who in the depth of his soul might wish that God, if he’s real, would come down and show himself.
God has shown himself. And like a father urging his child in the direction of the prize egg, God wants us to find him.
We find him in Jesus Christ, the risen Savior.
Blue Ribbon News special contributor Patti Richter of Heath is a journalist who writes news and feature stories, book reviews and more for Christian publications.
Read more by Patti Richter:
Not forgetting the least of these
Beholding wonders
Straight ahead – in the wrong direction
Heat and Ice: God’s Hot-Cold Therapy for Spiritual Stiffness?
God’s not-so-random acts of kindness
To submit your news, events, or a guest column, email editor@BlueRibbonNews.com.
Hunting for Easter added by Editor on
View all posts by Editor →