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This morning, a memory came back to mind as I sat down reading His Word. My family and I were looking for a Bible based church locally. A cousin we had not seen contacted us out of the blue and had informed us that they had been going to this Christian church nearby and had invited us to visit one of their services.
We agreed because we wanted to see her and her family we had not seen in a while. We met the pastor and the church family. It was a great time of singing and praising together as the Resurrection of Jesus was being celebrated that day. We loved what we saw from the start until…
We told them we needed to go. They asked us to stay because they always had a “pot-luck”. I heard the pastor turned to my son and said, “You don’t want to stay? C’mon…Go out there in the yard. We will have egg hunting. You don’t want those Easter bunnies chocolates?”
As a new believer, there was something in my heart that said a big “No!” Trying not to criticize and prayed for Him to help us with our decisions, I heard my son replied to the pastor, “No! Thank you. I don’t like it.”
The pastor I was sure had good intentions. He wanted us to stick around and get to know each other more. But as new believers, that was a crucial lesson that my family and I encountered. There was a barrier that formed in our hearts at that moment. A red flag sort of went up and so…we decided not to join that church.
Those bunnies…Open them up. I hear a lot of kids get so excited to see them around Easter time. There are huge ones. But when they are opened, the innocent ones exclaim, “There’s nothing inside!”
And that’s how our lives are without Jesus…Empty…Hollow….Accomplish nothing…
"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5 (NLT)
What a disappointment it is for a child to see “nothing” inside that chocolate bunny! People never stop searching for the true meaning in their lives. The more they try, the more they find little or no satisfaction. It’s because there is no happiness when a life is lived without God.
“What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.” – Ecclesiastes 1:3-8 (NIV)
And that’s what we miss…To search for Jesus first. He is the One Who gives wisdom, knowledge, and true joy. His love is the one that cures the emptiness we all have in our hearts. We all go searching for many roads to find the ones that lead to happiness and satisfaction that often elude us. Most of the time, such roads often end up in disappointments, loneliness, regrets, bitterness, and failures. Some of us are able to see a particular narrow, bumpy road that we avoid without realizing that’s the only one that offers the path toward eternal life, hope and true joy.
“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
– Matthew 7:14 (NIV)
