The Question

Today is the day that Christians around the world will celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ!  This is a day of celebration, a day of triumph!  Hallelujah, Christ has risen!  We may dye eggs, give our children chocolate bunnies and other treats, share a family meal and  go to church, even if we don’t attend any other time of year. There is no question that Easter is sacred to believers in Christ.  There is no question that the Easter message that will be preached today will speak of His power and His love for each of us.  And though the traditions and aspects of our services may differ, one thing that will cut across denominational lines is the message of Christ the Lord has risen today!

In many services, the pastor will ask a whether anyone wants to accept and receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.  That question will be posed in different ways, accompanied by different traditions, but that question will resound off the walls of  churches worldwide this Easter morn. It is an important question, it is a necessary question and one we were commanded to ask when we were told to go into the world and preach the good news of Christ.

But, there is a question that supersedes the one mentioned above.  It is a question that God began asking the moment He breathed life into lifeless Adam.  It is a question He has been asking since He told Noah to build an ark in the middle of the desert; since He called a stuttering, ex-prince, murderer-on-the-run, goat farmer named Moses to lead his people out of slavery; a question He asked as those same people stood staring down an impossible dilemma: the Red Sea in their faces, Pharaoh’s army breathing down their necks.  In every story, in every page of His Word penned for His children, there is one question quietly rustling under the surface:

“Do you TRUST my love?”

It is asked to every life given breath by Him; to every person faced with decisions, dilemmas, and impossible situations; to each of His children who have been served the injustices of this world, whose lives have been scarred by evil, who pray and cry out and feel alone, afraid, confused; to everyone who is praying and waiting for an answer, a breakthrough, or has received His “No” or His “go’ or His “stay” and that wasn’t the answer they  wanted to hear; to every lost sinner looking for a savior and trying to find it in themselves, their drink, their drug, their newest lover, the same question is posed. To every one of God’s children: the faithful, the wanderers, the rebels, the ones who have yet to come to the Father.

This question resounds and echoes off the walls of each human heart:
“Do you trust My love?”  “Child, do you TRUST my love?”

There are only two answers, check “yes” or “no”. Either we do, or we don’t. There is no maybe. There isn’t a third box to check, because “maybe” is just “no” cloaked in the garb of euphemism. Do you trust His love? Check “yes” or “no”.

When faced with something that just hurts, that just doesn’t make sense, how often do we rail at God and shake our fist toward Him in heaven?  I’ve been there, done that, although it pains me to admit it.  Yet, He gently whispers the same question, “Child, do you trust MY LOVE?”  Then He points me to a rugged, bloodstained cross that reminds me He gave everything and became every evil, experienced all hopelessness and the wrath of God so that I wouldn’t have to.  “Do you trust My love?”, He asks again.

Tenderly He draws my mind to the scripture that says, “And while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.” My heart thrums loudly in my chest as this truth takes hold of my heart, I am take aback at how much He trusted His love for me. At how much He trusted His love for all of rebellious and helpless humanity long before we had anything to offer Him.

Then, He turns my gaze to a rocky tomb.  I peer inside and find it EMPTY!  There was no power in Hell, no gravitational force in all the universe that could hold my Savior in the ground.  He came back for ME!  His love couldn’t be killed on a cross, buried in a tomb or trapped in Hell.  His love broke every chain for me.  He trusted His love for me, for each one of us enough to bleed, die, endure separation from His Father in Heaven, and spend three days in Hell!

So, as I face the dilemmas and heartaches and injustices of this life I have a choice.  I can face them with strength knowing that my God is a good God and that He has proven, without a doubt, that His love is trustworthy.  Or, I can get angry, depressed and choose to doubt a love that has already proven itself to me over and over again.

This Easter, I pray that you will find a quiet moment to spend with your Savior, the Lover of your soul, and listen when He asks, “Child, do you trust MY LOVE”  My hope, and my prayer is that as He adjusts your gaze to the cross, the grave, and the empty tomb your only response will be, “Yes, Jesus!  I trust Your LOVE!

Happy Easter!