Seeking Our Savior on Easter This Year

The earth seems to let out its breath as Easter draws near.

When I looked out at the hills last week, they stood splattered in orange. Our state flower—the poppy—had dyed all the hills surrounding my tiny school.

It looked beautiful. Never before had I seen so many wildflowers sprouting up along the sides of the trails. So many colors of petals, and so much lush green grass. A brook that ran up to the path’s edge and sparkled in the warm sunlight. All underneath a clear blue sky.

But never before had I seen my city get so much rain.

All those rainy days in February and March had turned into something beautiful after all. It’s like the earth had held its breath that winter as the rain fell, just waiting for the arrival of spring.

And when spring came, when Easter drew near, it let out its breath. It let out its breath as the flowers sprung up, and new life took root.

I like to think of the world’s beautiful things as a little glimpse of the perfect world that is to come.

But there’s a whole world out there that’s still looking for the blossoms. There’s a whole world that’s still holding its breath, just waiting for the promise of freedom and new life.

The freedom in Easter

When I think about Easter, I think of how we’ve been set free.

Our freedom comes from the One Who endured the cross. He’s the One Who endured a harsher storm than I could ever imagine, and He endured it for us.

I love to read Jesus’ last prayer in John 17 (and I would recommend reading it for yourself!). It gives us a look at our Savior’s heart in those moments before His crucifixion. And it gives us a look at His vision for us, and His vision for our world.

When I think about how our Savior humbled Himself to become a man, I realize that He knows exactly what it’s like to feel pain on this earth. He felt it Himself. In the fullest possible way, He took on that pain.

Of course, God already knows what’s going on inside our hearts. But there’s something so comforting about realizing that He sent His Son to the same place where we face so much suffering every day.

God has never separated Himself from our world. No, He’s held it in His hands during every little moment.

And His Son took steps on the very same world that our feet are standing on right now.

We are in the world

“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name”

~John 17:11, ESV

Jesus knew that He was coming back to His Father, and as He prayed, He thought about us.

He thought about us, and how we would be standing here in this world—this broken world.

He thought about us, and asked His Father to keep us in His name. Isn’t there something so reassuring about that?

We’re truly never alone in this world.

We are not of the world

“I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”

~John 17:14, ESV

The world won’t accept what it can’t understand.

Jesus had experienced the world’s hate firsthand, and yet He still loved the world that had denied Him. And He knew that He would leave us in that same world—one that won’t understand us. One that won’t accept us.

This world will deny us, but…

We don’t truly belong in this world.

We have been sent into the world

“As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

~John 17:18, ESV

Living on this world, running this race of life—It’s about more than facing pain and feeling out-of-place.

It’s about being different. Living differently in a world that won’t understand. Living differently in a world that needs hope.

It’s about living differently with the realization that He has sent us here with a message to deliver—a message of freedom.

Take a look around you. Doesn’t this world need a change? Don’t its people need a different message?

We truly have a purpose in this world.

The world does not know Him

“O Righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know You, and these know that You have sent me. I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love in which You have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

~John 17:25-26, ESV

Even though the world does not know Him, God has an amazing way of revealing Himself through it. He’s continuing to make His name known, in both the pouring of the rain and the blossoming of new life.

We can truly seek Him in this world.

And this Easter, I want us to remember to seek our Savior. Let’s seek in Him in both the sunshine and the storms. Let’s seek Him with every breath that we take.

We’ve been set free. We can finally breathe. We’ve been given new life.

And if I’m being honest, there have been so many times when I’ve taken those blessings for granted. There have been so many times when God has felt distant. But that’s why, as I think about these seasons of waiting, I want to keep my eyes on that finish line.

And I want to seek my Savior.

Even in the rain.

When I was a sixth-grader at church camp, I scribbled this into my notebook: “If you never get rained on, you’ll never grow.” It’s a saying that I’ve held in my heart throughout the years that have flown by since then.

Living on this world is hard. Running life’s race is hard. But we’re here with a purpose.

We’re here to remind our world of the wildflowers dancing on the path’s edge.

And more importantly, we’re here to remind our world of the One Who makes them grow.

Happy Easter, everyone! If you are doing anything special to celebrate, or feel that God has been revealing something in your heart during this season, feel free to share about in the comments. I love hearing from you, and I hope that you and your family have a blessed Easter! <3

If you’re curious about the photos, they’re from Serra Cross Park during a short trip to Ventura that I took last summer. I think the cross overlooking the beach is a beautiful reminder of what our Savior has done for us.