The Same Ol' Same Ol'- A Post Easter Review

I hope you're not like me.

I have a penchant to take many things in my life for granted. Of my many short comings this probably ranks toward the top of the long list.

Case in point. Sometime ago my ears registered my daughter yelling with great urgency, “Daaaaaaaaaaaad!!” As my fast-turning feet entered the hallway I saw it, the cascading water pouring through the ceiling near her bedroom. I immediately rushed to find and put my hand on the hidden water turn-off valve. A quick ensuing investigation of the water trail led me straight to the water heater. This unseen taken-for-granted device that had “always” without interruption provide my family with the pleasure of soothing hot water had decided to freak out and die. And of course, it made this dastardly decision to do this on an early Friday evening. ARRGH!! Family meeting time. “OK kids, here’s the deal, no showers and save your toilet water for a good one. No doing dishes, no laundry, no water till Monday, that’s when our plumber can get here.” When the water was finally restored with a new sparkling water heater, great celebration took place in our home. After several days without the splendor of running water, especially “hot” water, we all had a much greater appreciation for that “unseen” water heater. The sad note is this, it didn’t take but a few days to pass for us all to be back to the same ol’ same ol’. We were back to normal, taking the water heater and its spectacular product of hot water totally for granted….again!

I’m guilty of doing this a lot in other areas of my life. The list could be lengthy; birthdays, anniversaries, good health, a steady income, a house, my beautiful family. I could go on but you get the picture. I elevate these in my mind now and then to their rightful place, take in a deep whiff appreciation for them, exhale and then it happens. In a quick swoosh of time, a slow blink of the mind and I’m back to normal, the same ol’ same ol’, taking these wonderful things for granted….again. It seems that whatever becomes common to me, whatever can be “expected” to be there consistently, I end up taking for granted. This is not purposeful; unfortunately it is hardwired into my nature.

But what about Easter? What about the immeasurably deep meaning and ramifications of this miraculous day and all that it delivers to me? How do I hold onto daily in my heart the profound and sobering sacrifice that was made on my behalf that day? I don’t want to go back to normal, the same ol’ same ol’. I spent extra time in the week leading up to Good Friday this year trying to excavate in my heart and mind a deeper understanding of the voluntary act of Christ which He performed for me and how that act impacts my life. My life totally depends on what happened in those three days. I even a posted a piece about it, Three Words. The living Christ can’t live in me if the Easter story is not true. I do not have the hope of Heaven if Easter did not happen. I have no reconciliation with Father God if the abandoned and folded burial clothes left in the tomb were not really there. I am pathetically lost and condemned for eternity if Jesus did not walk out of the grave. My eternity with Father and my spiritual life-giving air is sucked away if the Easter event is not true.

So how does something this extraordinarily important, this pivotal of a historical happening that changed man’s eternal history and future, my history and future, become so taken for granted? Unlike my unseen water heater, the endpoint of Easter’s story, my reconciliation and salvation though belief in what Jesus did for me will never fail. There is nothing that can ever happen that will cause the Easter event to cease delivering to me the glory of my miraculous place of righteousness before the Throne of Father. And because it will never cease to flow to me, this righteousness Jesus gives to me, after a while, my natural man tends to take it for granted. After all, it will always be there. I hate to even admit it but even the glorious story of Jesus’ death and resurrection can become common to me, and what becomes common and expected in my life I have a tendency to take it for granted. So how do I not return there, this state of normal, the same ol’ same ol’?

I can’t change who I was yesterday and I surely can’t control tomorrow, so I am only left with today’s response to that question. So today I must make a choice, I must choose to take off my natural man’s clothes and put on a new set. I must take my mind and heart today to the bloodied dirt at the base of my Savior’s cross. Today I must pick up the blood-stained robe of righteousness left there for me and put it on. I will put it on with my heart’s belief. Let thanksgiving and gratitude flow from my heart for His Love Action towards me in the same way the blood flowed from His hands, feet, heart and side.

Father, thank you for Easter’s story, thank you for including me in it. My heart praises You for your Love Plan completed on Easter Day. Thank you for my new and eternal robe of righteousness. May I wear it today in a way that honors your Son’s name. And tomorrow….tomorrow may I choose to do the same.

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