It’s In The Expecting

We always hid Easter baskets for our kids when they were little. They absolutely loved finding those baskets, even when it got too hard and they were prompted with the timeless hints of “hot” and “cold”.

Why did they love it so much?
The expecting.
They were expecting a basket full of joy because of all it held inside.

What are we expecting?

Sadly, many of us have grown cold.
We have gotten farther and farther away from the joy that comes in the expected. And in the coldness, time spent with God has become a duty.

Church should never be just a duty.
It’s not a job where you clock in and clock out.
It’s not a “Christmas and Easter only” facility, yet that’s how many of us view it.

What are we expecting when we walk through the doors?
Are we expecting God’s presence to wash over us as we sing to Him?
As we hear His words, are we expecting those words to change our heart and soul?
Are we expecting those words to bring life?
Or, do we simply attend expecting nothing at all and leave with the same emptiness we had before we came?

Clock in. Clock out.

Three days after Christ was crucified a heartbroken Mary went to His tomb.
What was she expecting? She wasn’t expecting emptiness, yet that’s what she found.

She found emptiness because she wasn’t searching for life.

Mary could have left that day with a continued emptiness. With a heavy sorrow.

What was different?

Unlike so many of us, in her emptiness Mary realized how desperately she needed the Savior and it was in that moment that He revealed Himself to her by simply saying her name. Mary.

And she knew. He was alive.

His presence washed over her and her heart was changed. The tomb was empty but her heart was full.

Life can get hard, but it doesn’t have to be. God is always prompting us to draw closer. We don’t have to remain cold.
Just like a child searching for and expecting to find a basket full of joy, let me encourage you to expect the unexpected this Easter.

What can make the difference? Search for life. The difference comes in the expecting.
An empty tomb. A risen Savior.A life changed. A heart full.

A basket full of joy because of all it holds inside.

What are you expecting?
Whatever you are looking for is what you will find~and everything you’re looking for can be found in Christ.