Jesus, the Cross, Resurrection and... bunnies with eggs?

Before we begin I have but one very important question for you all:  why is it an easter bunny? Who came up with this idea and did they not realize that bunnies don't lay eggs?  I would like to see someone dress up as an Easter Duck or maybe an Easter Chicken next year. 

With that said..

Every Easter at our church we have a group come in called Teen Challenge.  Basically it's a program for troubled teens and young adults.  About six or seven of their students come in to sing and give their testimonies in front of the whole church. 

Now what is Easter?  Good Friday, as most of you probably know, is the day our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for us; so that we may live.  Three days later, (otherwise known as Easter) he rose again.  With this act of selfless love came a choice for each and every one of us, which will we choose? Heaven or hell? I look at it this way: Jesus died for me, so I'm going to live for him.

Every single one of those young people that stood on that stage Sunday morning were a new creation in the eyes of God.  As Jesus was being beaten and spit on and laughed at; and as he was hanging on that cross; he held the sins of the world on his shoulders.  So that we may be washed clean and made a new creation.  So that now, I can go to Heaven with Christ and live there eternally with him.  These people came from all different backgrounds, but they all ended up there, with a new hope.  They came from struggling addictions and depression, to now, a new creation in the eyes of God.

Sometimes I feel so ungrateful.  My sinful nature really gets to me and I forget that sacrifice that was made.  He died that way so that I don't have to.  And I complain?  He has made a covenant with us.  Because Jesus Christ died for us, we have been called to live for him.  To go out and stare this world in the face.  Shining the light of Christ to a hurting world.  Because why?  Because we are new, and because one day we will be able to see our God face to face. 

While today is a day of fun, it's also a day of remembrance.  It's a day of forgiveness and a day of true agape love.  YOU are a new creation!  Now go out and live it!