By Larry P. Stover
The Selma Times-Journal

The day has finally arrived! Christians around the world are celebrating and commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It has become a sad time in America. Our country is downplaying the whole idea of a “Savior” of the world. Rather than putting our faith and hope in the Messiah, we have put our hope in the government, political systems and programs that only perpetuate helplessness and hopelessness.

The real need in Dallas County is that our citizens would celebrate Easter by having a serious encounter with the resurrected Savior. The Christian faith is not about fame and wealth. It is all about being reconciled to a God who loves us and wants our lives to be the best they can be regardless of social status or financial holdings.

If we would go back 2000 years, the appeal of this new faith was the fact that anyone and everyone could have full access to God. Rather than having a relationship with a system of belief, they could have a personal life changing relationship with Jesus himself. It was that day to day presence of His Holy Spirit that led them through daily happenings with wisdom and purpose.   Christianity was the greatest thing that had ever happened to them. It changed everything!

I’ve watched some of the new Christian movies on television this week. The escalating theme from year to year is to downplay the deity of Jesus. Hollywood does not want to portray Him as God. They want us to see Him as a prophet or just a man going around doing good things for people.

He is not portrayed as a welcoming Savior in the Palm Sunday parade into Jerusalem. We sometimes hear shouts of Hosanna but most people don’t fully understand their meaning. That cry to Jesus was a cry to “save us.” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” was a heartfelt cry acknowledging Him as the” Messiah,” the “Anointed One, ”the Christ.”  The Son of God had come to save them.  They failed to recognize that it was a spiritual arrival and not a political one.

The list goes on. The agonizing prayer time in Gethsemane does not focus on doing the will of His Father. We no longer see emphasis on His discussion with the thief on the cross next to Him or on the veil of the Holy of Holies being torn. The resurrection is given little or no credence as to project Him as a risen savior.

If we all truly believed that what happened in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago was true, it would change everything. Our faith in Jesus Christ would become the very air that we breathe rather than something we exercise only when we get into a jam or have nothing else to do.

We would discover that true worship does not happen at the beach, in the mountains, at the campground, or our favorite fishing hole; rather, it happens when the people of God come together at our various places of worship to celebrate the fact that God has reconciled the world to Himself through Jesus Christ our resurrected Lord.

As we gather in churches across Dallas County today, we will remember that a relationship with the Risen Savior makes life “Simply Beautiful!”