A Time for Celebration!

Happy Easter! Today, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Today we celebrate the fact that God accepted the sacrifice of His only Son. Today we celebrate Christ's triumph over death.
This is what life is all about. In this blog, I talk about the key to life is in goal-setting and living with passion. Among other things, I've talked about overcoming debt, doing whatever it takes to achieve your goals, and maintaining your focus. All these can be seen in Easter.
In his death and Resurrection, Christ paid off you sin-debt to God. Our sin, among other examples, can be seen as a debt. A debt we have absolutely no chance to ever pay. Jesus, in laying down His life for us, paid that debt. In fact the Greek term that has been translated, "It is finished," was a phrase used in commerce, and could be better rendered, "Paid in full."
God's ultimate goal was to redeem for Himself a people. God is holy above all things. All of humanity is completely sinful. God told us many times that in order to be aligned with Him, perfect obedience is required. If God were only just, He would simply destroy us all in one swipe. But God is also infinitely gracious. The problem is how to show grace to a rebellious humanity without violating His perfect justice. The crucifixion of a perfect substitute, His Beloved Son, was the only way it could be done. the Resurrection of that sacrifice showed that God accepted the substitute.
In the redemption story, Jesus maintained His focus. I didn't say never wavered. At Gethsemane, Jesus prayed so fervently that he began sweating blood. He plead with His Father three times that night to find another way. Ultimately, the Nazarene knew this was they only way, and once the garden was a memory, so were all objections.
Easter is a time for celebration. The access to God, which had been denied to humanity for so long, was now open to all. The vast chasm of sin that separated us from Yahweh is now bridged by a bloody cross. We have every reason to celebrate!