As humans, we need Easter

You know those signs that say "Don't even think about parking here!"? Immediately upon reading the sign I thought about it. That's why I need Easter.

When we are born we come hard-wired and fully equipped for rebellion. Ask any parent of a toddler when they taught their child to rebel against them. When did they sit down and give a lecture on how to throw a fit? How did they go about addressing the proper technique of kicking and stomping? What vocal exercises did they prescribe in order to get the proper tone and volume for blood-curdling screams?

Rebellion is not learned. Parents do not instruct their children to ignore them. It comes to them naturally. Like the toddler, we do not like being told what to do and we like having our way NOW. We need Easter.

Rebellion is nothing new. It is the heart of the evil one who rebelled against God. It is the source of Adam and Eve becoming convinced they could not trust God, that he was hiding something good from them. They rebelled against him. They gave us the need for Easter.

Easter is so much more than acquiring the latest spring fashions and fulfilling the yearly church attendance quota. Easter is a time to remember that on our own we are not interested in anything of God. Not goodness, not mercy, not forgiveness, nothing. The Bible in the letter to Roman Christians reminds us all that on our very own we are hostile toward God. Not simply disgruntled but hostile. We may be pleasant, pay our taxes and speak with spiritually inspired words, but at the core of humanity we are interested in only submitting to and finding the greatest pleasure for ourselves. As sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, we have inherited a hostility, mistrust and rebellion to all the things of God. We need Easter.

Our rebellion is so great that only a sacrifice and victory of the magnitude of Easter can remove it. We need the one who surrendered the authority of the universe to take on rebellious flesh. We need Easter more than we care to admit.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.