How can a person celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection with unbounded joy if he/she does not first come to the foot of the cross and sincerely embrace the grief of His crucifixion? Were you there? I was. I am one of those in the crowd who betrayed Him, arrested and beat Him, led Him off to be crucified and demanded it. I am one of the crowd who scoffed at Him because He would not save Himself. I thrust the thorny crown upon His head. I drove the nails through the very hands that reached to love and heal me; and, the feet that carried Him to me so I could hear and be set free, so I could be healed. Yes, I am in the crowd who came to gaze at the spectacle but walked away unmoved and unchanged. I denied Him. I cursed Him. But, when He arose, He came and rescued me from the "field of blood," the pauper's graveyard. He took me in and made me His child, a princess, a treasure. It cost Him dearly to pay for this sinner and to make her a saint. He counted the cost but thought it nothing compared to the weight of glory that comes when one sinner repents and believes.

Don't let the flame of continual thanksgiving die for lack of remembering Him and what He endured for you! Don't let it flicker for lack of fervant faith! Don't let the winds of worldly circumstance blow it out. Or did His passion ever burn in your soul? Did only remorse move you when you gazed upon the Innocent, who took your guilt, your crime, you sin upon Himself and forgave you? Has your fervor to love Him and follow Him been choked out by ease and compromise? Has your vow to be His, to know Him better, become only a hollow echo in your breast? Has the pursuit of His presence been supplanted by the trivial pursuit of your own pleasure? It's not too late! Quick run through the open door, into the presence of the Lamb and the Father! Ask for help and grace to turn your stoney heart to flesh, to revive your passion for Him, to re-ignite the light of faith. Hurry! At least,think about it.