Photo by Rowan & Jocelyn Gillson

I have been a Christian for a long time, but this Easter was one of the best. My wife and I are attending Mars Hill Church in Portland, and they rightfully make a big deal out of Easter. On Good Friday we had an evening service that was a lot like a funeral service. Two days later, Easter morning was a huge celebration. The combination was incredibly powerful, bringing home the despair of the death of Christ and the joy of the resurrection.

One of the things that came through strongly for me was the enormity of mankind’s sin and my personal ownership of it. Jesus, the Son of God, came and lived a perfect life among us, and our response was to kill him. No one even stood up for him. We killed God. We didn’t want him; we didn’t need him; and the people who led the charge to kill God were the most religious– the very ones who thought they knew Him.

This opened up my eyes to a whole new thought, that God actually intended for this to happen– He knew from before time began that the men and women he created would kill his Son. In a way, he wasn’t even disappointed, it was all part of the plan. To make mankind was to die for them.

To me, this revealed a greater depth to the the love that God has for us. Not only would He die for us, but He would even create us so that He could love us to the max.