Easter Sunday has come and gone. Just as with Christmas, there seems to be much preparation, much excitement and joy, and then in a day it is over even though the refrigerator may still contain a few hard-boiled eggs—now to be eaten. However, Easter is one holiday that should never end. For Easter continues to be a vital part of our lives as Christians.

The whole point of Easter is that Jesus rose victorious over our enemies: Satan, sin, and death. Easter proclaims the truth of Jesus’ claims: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). Those who believe on Jesus will live forever because He lives forever.

As we rejoice in the certain hope of eternal life Jesus gives us, we also need to be careful not to be motivated through the Easter message, and not by law-driven rules. Easter is life, the law works wrath, sin, and death.

Lately, many churches in the United States have promoted and studied the book The Purpose-Driven Life. This book has many worth-while suggestions for Christian living. Who can argue with attending Bible study, engaging in prayer, or dedicating time for doing the Lord’s work? Christians should desire to fulfill His purposes in all that they say and do. However, the soul-damaging flaw of the book lies in the fact that the author rarely mentions Jesus and His work of salvation, or uses His death for sin as the motive for living Christian lives.

This Law-driven book is like the steam locomotives that are located in several Midwest towns. All the gears and levers might work, but there is no fire or steam to make the locomotive move. Those who follow the forty-day exercise may find that it works, but it is motivated by the law rather than by love for Jesus’ work of salvation. The Christian bookstores abound with such books, because law-driven living is the theology and practice of the reformed churches.

Instead, our lives are to reflect “The Easter-Driven Life.” Easter not only gives us joy and hope in Jesus’ resurrection, it also affects the way we live as God’s redeemed children. It affects how we deal with sin in our lives. St. Paul stated it this way, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts” (Romans 6:11-12).

Easter affects how we treat other people, as St. John says, “Beloved, if God so loved us [by sending Jesus to die for us], we also ought to love one another” (1John 4:11). If we know that Jesus’ resurrection abolished death for all people, we will want to tell everyone how they can trust in Him for eternal life. If we believe that the risen Jesus intercedes for us, we will want to pray continually, asking Him for all that we need to remain faithful to Him. If we know that Jesus will care for us in everything, we can be content, at peace, and seek first the kingdom of God. If we follow the Gospel which proclaims Jesus as the risen Savior, then we will understand that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”(Matthew 4:4). If we trust that the risen Jesus is in heaven preparing a place for us, we will gladly serve Him here below until He calls us to the eternal mansions of heaven.

He is arisen! glorious Word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open. (ELH # 348 ).