Are you saved? Have you been? Are you being? The question mattered enough to God to send His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross of Calvary for us. Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.
Easter Sunday is upon us.
Choruses celebrating Jesus’ resurrection will be sung in churches across the continents, each reverberating with majestic triumph.
Whether rising to their feet with the age-old: “Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all!” or the more contemporary: “The ground began to shake/the stone was rolled away,” those lining the pews will be standing a little taller, the timbre of their voices resonating a little stronger.
Or so we hope.
In Singapore, the reminder will issue from many a pulpit that, for almost three years, we were in the throes of a pandemic. Praise be to God, this year’s gathering of His people onsite, Covid restrictions-free, would count as the first “thronging” Easter service in a long while.
It’s reason for added thanksgiving – not that our rejoicing because He lives would ever be diminished any which way.
Reality bites
Or would it?
Our days aren’t divorced from the pall of increasingly sobering geopolitical realities.
After all, our days aren’t – and never have been – divorced from the pall of increasingly sobering geopolitical realities.
The Ukraine-Russia war is one such example. Raging unabated more than a year on, it still is emanating wide-ranging, far-reaching knock-on effects, the sum of which contributed most recently to our fourth quarter 2022 retrenchments doubling quarter-on-quarter, and even to the triple whammy of US bank failures last month (March 2023).
And yet, it’s surreal, isn’t it, how it is that life seems to just go on, and on, arguably without a care? The earth remains. Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night: Nothing ceases. (Genesis 8:22)
To be sure, we’ve become so used to being on “heightened alert” that we seem to be 24/7 risk-aware. Economically, we realise, “it can get worse” – as our Deputy Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, who is also finance minister, told CNBC in a recent interview.
“We are a small country, we have to take the world as it is, and not what we would like it to be.
“I think the game plan is really just to get back to basics, be very clear what our interests are, and advance those interests in a credible and principled manner consistently.”
What is “basic”?
Wise counsel, indeed. But, what would it look like when we get there? “Back to basics” in the here and now is a different place for everyone.
Does Easter mark for you a day? Or a destiny?
In the hereafter, however, it’s a place called eternity, which God has set in man’s heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Easter is one occasion that reminds us plainly of it. Which begs the question: Does Easter mark for you a day? Or a destiny?
The opportunities to care about your answer present themselves in the news reports that make the headlines every day – whether they be about earthquakes in Turkiye or murders in Bukit Merah.
God presents them, and pointedly so. (Isaiah 1:18) It mattered enough to Him, about life on earth going on without a care (Genesis 6:5), that He sent His Son, Jesus, to take on humanity, suffer and die on the cross of Calvary, to save us. (John 3:16-17)
The day of salvation
So, are you saved? Have you been? Are you being?
“Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
The questions can be ignored. We can choose to walk away. Or we can revisit them and renew our commitment as part of the remnant. Unending mercy would allow our eyes to see again what grace looks like, our ears to hear again what truth is. (John 1:17)
Take nothing for granted: Life’s not always going to be happening.
Some day the whirl’s going to slow to a halt and no longer will the call of the hour be: “Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)
In light of the signs of the times (Matthew 24:3-14), “seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)
This article first appeared in Eagles Communications‘ Vantage Point newsletter and is edited and reprinted with permission.
MORE ON GOOD FRIDAY AND EASTER:
It is finished: Do tough times challenge the “good” in Good Friday?
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