The Gift of God’s Grace During Easter

At Easter, there’s a lot to celebrate. Children wait for the Easter Bunny, running around their garden to find the chocolate eggs their parents have hidden beforehand. Maybe you casually celebrate it with your family as it is a nice time to catch up with everyone.

But Christians actually remember Easter in a different way and for a different reason, which is Jesus Christ, God’s son. We rejoice in the fact that he died on the cross and that he was raised from the dead. It seems strange though - why would we celebrate a man dying?

Well, Ephesians 2:8-10 says: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Grace, saved and faith are the foundational words of the gospel message and truth that Christians hold to as we live our lives. We are saved by grace, not by good works so we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

But in all of this, it’s important to first understand why Jesus had to die. He died for our sins and the sin of this world because when you look around, there’s a lot of suffering, brokenness and pain. Christians believe these problems are caused by sin. This is why God sent Jesus to come upon this world because he loves us and wants to save us freely by his amazing grace.

And we can’t earn this salvation by our own means or by doing good deeds. We can definitely try to, I sure do because we live in a world that often measures our performance, grades and successes. We try hard to please people around us, get their approval, try to be good enough but in the end, it fades away quickly. A never-ending cycle of chasing after the wind.

Religion says you have to do good works to save yourself but Christianity says someone else has worked hard to save you. This is God’s gift of grace to you this Easter.

This is just like when we give a gift to someone, we might expect a gift back in return. But that’s not what Jesus did. He freely gave up his life for us so that we could be forgiven and to fulfill God’s redeeming and glorious plan.

So how do we respond to this? We can accept his gift of grace, put our trust in God and believe in him. Believe that he is a good God who never asked us to do or give anything to him. But in his unconditional love, he died for us that our sins could be washed away by his blood.

We all have faith in someone or something but it’s the object of faith that is most important. When we walk on a bridge, we don’t know if something is wrong with it but we trust that the people, the workers, the tradies have worked hard to build a bridge that is firm and sturdy. So too should we put our faith in God, who has secured our salvation with absolute and unshakeable confidence.

As we approach Easter Sunday, let’s lift our hearts and voices to Him in praise, love and thanksgiving for what he has done on the cross for us. We can celebrate this good news today and know that God has given us such an amazing gift of grace.

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns