The Promise

Last week is the week that we recognize as, and celebrate Passover, Good Friday, and Easter.

It has become a rote holiday to just celebrate, give gifts (if you do that sort of thing...my Mom always blesses us with mounds and mounds of candy), eat good food and spend time with family. There is no harm in any of this, in my opinion.

This year though, Easter has a new meaning and evokes a new feeling within.

Because of Jesus being crucified and subsequently rising from the grave...I have a promise to see my Dad again someday.

You see, the story of the crucifixion is so much more than just a story. It tells of God's undeniable love for His creation, his sinful creation, and it tells how we are able to be redeemed.

That redemption story means so much more now that my Dad is waiting on the streets of Gold for me.

It means that because I have repented of my sin, and not just said "I'm sorry," but really repented, and because I have received the Holy Ghost and because I have been baptized in the only Biblical way to be baptized: in Jesus' name, I am going to see my Dad again AND Jesus if I continue to walk according to the Bible.

The Bible gives very clear instructions on how to be saved. So many people say that every good person will make it into Heaven, but according to Christ's own words: "There is none good but God."

So many people say holiness isn't required by God, but by man, but yet the Bible said: "Without holiness none shall see God."

If no standard of holiness was required in your life, then what would be sinful? Not a whole lot.

Anyway, my point is this: take the time to appreciate and learn in it's entirety the beauty of the plan of Salvation God gave to us through the Bible. The Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament, there are types and shadows that point to the things to come, and each event means something. New knowledge can be gleaned each time you read a passage of scripture.

Learn what the Bible teaches. Not just what man teaches, but what God himself, through His word teaches. Don't take some one's word for something: search it out. Look into it for yourself. Challenge your beliefs. You will come out stronger for it.