I have a feeling everyone knows what this is. That's right, it's a Christmas ornament. Do you remember what it was used for, just a few months ago? Yes, to decorate the Christmas tree.
Here's another item that is used to celebrate a holiday, an Easter egg. Soon, you'll be decorating some of these and maybe even have an Easter egg hunt.
But what do a Christmas ornament and an Easter egg have to do with each other?
Both of them are small parts of the way we celebrate a special day. Yet both Christmas and Easter mean much more than ornaments or eggs. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and on Easter we celebrate the fact that God raised Him from the dead after He was crucified for our sins.
You see, Christmas and Easter go together. We couldn't have Easter if Jesus hadn't been born as a tiny baby in Bethlehem. Yet Christmas would not have any meaning for us without the great gift Jesus gave when He went to the cross, dying for you and for me. And just three days later, on that first Easter morning, God raised Him from the dead!
We celebrate Easter because that same Jesus who was laid in a manger as a baby, who died on a rugged cross on Good Friday, who was raised from the dead on Easter — that same Jesus lives today and wants to live in us.
As you and I give our lives to Him — asking Him to direct our lives and help us serve Him — we experience a special Easter celebration in our own hearts.
Ornaments and eggs are nice, but they are only reminders of a much greater truth: that God loves us and wants to live in us. That's what Christmas and Easter are all about. (JMD)
