At the risk of offending my Christian friends, I’m going to leave my own kind of Easter message. If your discerning, you’ll note that this is not written to benefit my Christian friends, but at other friends I love dearly.

Easter is not about eggs, candy, or even family. Easter is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, His rising from the dead to show that He alone conquers the darkest of sins and He overcomes them all.

I will present you with the Gospel today in print, but if I know that you do not believe, and I never tell you the Gospel face-to-face. It is because I DO NOT LOVE YOU, and I am not worthy of your friendship. At some point in our relationship I must tell the you the most humbling and important message that I know.

1. We are all sinful. We lie, steal, murder , covet, commit adultery, and put ourselves before others. (See sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7) I am huge sinner! That’s right. I do it daily.

2. It doesn’t matter the magnitude of your sin, the penalty is death. Don’t let those Christians and their “God is Love” message fool you. He is jealous and He wants justice. Romans 6:23

3. It doesn’t matter the magnitude of your sin, He came to take the penalty in your stead. That is the only promise, eternal life, not wealth, not “everything your way right away.” He does not work at Burger King. Bad things in life will happen to you. Death and sickness came from man’s sin. God sometimes lets it visit us to sharpen our character and build our faith. (John 3:16-18- end of judgement and James 1:12- promise of tribulation on earth).

4. Now you are free from the burden of paying for your sins, if ONLY you believe. It is that simple. You do not have to do anything else. Salvation from death is not earned. If it were so, no one could make Him happy enough. We all fall short. Romans 15:13 and Romans 5:1-21 (Yeah, I know its long, but His Word says it best.)

I am a sinner, I have broken every one of the ten commandments and the most important of them. loving the Lord my God, and loving others before myself (Matthew 22:36-40). I’m in the center of my world on a daily basis. I am no different than my non-Christian friends. I constantly need His redemption, I constantly have to re-commit myself to Him. It’s not common for a Christian to advertise this, but it is key to the Gospel message. I am flawed, and if I were perfect, I would not need His death. I am now a willing slave to Jesus, because of the life-debt He paid for me. Understand that submission is totally against our sinful nature. Which is why you will see us struggle with the same sins. Submission is a deliberate act, no magic occurs when we believe that makes us supernaturally obey without fault.

For the little sinners in my house, if I were not honest about my own sin, I could not be a good witnessing tool. The Word would just be a tool of manipulation. It is important for me to admit guilt, ask forgiveness from my children and then turn away from my sin. When Christians neglect to admit their own sinful nature,  the entire message of the Gospel becomes one of judgment, instead of love.

If you are not a believer, and you know that I know that, if I don’t share this message with you face to face in a loving manner, confront me, attack me, for I will need to apologize for not putting your life before my own interests.

We aren’t just celebrating his life anew, but His blood shed for me, yes even me. Jesus is enough for Easter. We do not need anything else to present the message. Deuteronomy 4:2

Now, this is for my Christian friends. If you celebrate Easter with an egg hunt and candy, is it sinful? Probably not. Paint those eggs and have a blast, but whatever you do, make Christ the center, not an afterthought, not a side note. He bought you with His blood. He deserves center stage.