The absence of light is darkness. The absence of God — the embodiment of truth — is lies.
Sometimes it feels that Christianity in the United States has been discounted and that Christianity is a dying faith.
The United States was founded on Christian principles and a belief that freedom is only possible in a just and moral society, but over time many people have forgotten this because history is re-written.
As a Christian, I am an Easter Person. I believe that God’s promises and the Bible’s prophesies have always been fulfilled and always will be. I trust in God and I have hope. And this hope comforts me.
There is no challenge that we have not faced before. Whether it is cultural change, government upheaval, war, internal religious divides, or individual struggles, we as a people have faced it before in one form or another. And we’ve never faced it alone.
We’ve been here before.
It must have been terrifying to have known Jesus over two thousand years ago and to feel suddenly that He was gone as those in authority tried to destroy Him. To watch Him unjustly tried, tortured, crucified, and buried. To possibly have denied Him personally for fear of persecution and a shared fate. The world must have felt suddenly dark, evil, and frightening on so many levels. And it must have felt so terribly alone.
But the early Christians were an Easter People. In the darkest hours before the dawn following the days after the crucifixion, they did not lose faith in Jesus – nor in His promise that He would return.
Jesus defeated death. Jesus was resurrected and the world was reborn with the promise that we are loved and not alone. He gave His life for our sins so that we might be forgiven and that we might live. God sacrificed His only Son for us to show us the way to Him and to give us hope.
God is always with us, seeking a personal relationship with us. We have only to seek Him, invite Him into our lives, and follow Him. We have only to follow Jesus’ teachings to become a better people and create a better world. A world where people live in peace and love and in a meaningful relationship with God.
We are an Easter People. As long as we hold tight to our beliefs and live our faith, the promise of a new and better dawn is ours.
The next time we feel the darkness closing in around us, take comfort in the knowledge we have only to pray and remind ourselves that it is always darkest before the dawn. With God in our lives, we are never alone. With God in our lives, there is always hope and the promise of a better tomorrow. But it begins with us. With our faith in God and the knowledge that through Christ, we can be forgiven — and that with God, everything is possible.
“This remark confounded the disciples. ‘Then who in the world can be saved’ they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, ‘Humanly speaking, no one. But with God, everything is possible.” (Matthew 19: 25-26)
*This blog was inspired by an online video I listened to this morning by Matthew Kelly entitled, “Best Lent Ever: 2019, Day 21, “The Underdog,” distributed by dynamiccatholic.com. Although I am not Catholic, it resonated with me in a way that reaffirmed my hope for a better world and a better version of myself.
Photo Copyright: “Jetty Sunrise,” by Daniel Falvo.
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