What difference does Easter make to you? Too many Easter eggs may add half an inch to your waist, but apart from that Easter means very little to most people. Which is tragic, because when we truly understand the significance of Easter it can make a world of difference to our lives. For each one of us Easter can transform the past, the present and the future.

Each of us has a past. There may be pain from the ways we have been hurt by other people. There will be guilt for the things we have done and said which have hurt others and offended God. The good news of Good Friday is that God has dealt once and for all with the problem of sin, as His Son Jesus Christ took the sins of the world on Himself on the cross. Easter promises us healing for our hurts and forgiveness for our sins. God will accept us as His beloved children!

And on that first Easter Sunday the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty and Jesus was alive, risen from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means we have a living Saviour who is with us minute by minute. Jesus is ready to help whenever we call on Him. He shares
our sorrows, our worries and our fears, and He gives us His strength to cope. So Easter revolutionises our everyday life in the present too.

And as for the future, Christians need have no fear of death. We are certain of eternal life continuing beyond the grave. Because Jesus has risen, we know that we too will live with Him forever in heaven. This is the joyful hope which Easter offers to everyone who believes.

So – spot the difference? We claim to be Christians. We say we believe the Easter message. But can our friends and neighbours spot the difference that Easter makes in our lives? Sometimes the changes are so small that even we find it hard to believe that God has forgiven us and that He helps us and that we are safe in His love forever. The world around will only see the difference Jesus Christ can make for them when we allow Him to make that difference in us.

‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!’ (2 Cor 5:17)