Spring Is in the Air

Spring--the season of new birth and renewal--has begun for 2011. In this part of northern Florida the blooms, fragrances, warmth, and foliage of spring start early. We have already welcomed and said good-bye to wisteria, redbuds, azaleas, dogwood, and other flowers, but many different kinds have taken their place, including roses, day lilies, foxglove, and so many other beautiful blossoms.

Soon the commemoration of our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection will be here, and Jews will be celebrating Passover. As we reflect upon this important season of the year, we realize several things about who we are and who Christ is. C.H. Spurgeon wrote, "The love of Christ surpasses all human understanding. Where can language be found that is able to describe His matchless, unparalleled love toward all humanity? It's so vast and boundless that all descriptive words just touch the surface, while immeasurable depths lie beneath. Christ's love is so measureless and fathomless that no human can achieve it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand His previous glory in its height of majesty, and His incarnation upon the Earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ?. . . Who can tell His height of glory then? And who can tell how low He descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief was far more. To bleed and die and suffer--these were much for Him who was the Son of God. But to suffer such unparalleled agony, and to endure a death of shame and desertion by His Father, this is a depth of condescending love that even the most inspired mind must utterly fail to understand. This is love--and truly it is love that 'surpasses knowledge.'"

Jesus--the King of kings and Lord of lords--became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God through Him. In Him and through Him we are able to rejoice each day. With Christ, life becomes an eternal springtime. Through Him we experience unparalleled joy.

Helen Steiner Rice wrote:

Each spring, God renews His promise.
Long, long ago in a land far away,
There came the dawn of the first Easter Day,
And each year we see that promise reborn
That God gave the world on that Easter morn.
For in each waking flower and each singing bird,
The promise of Easter is witnessed and heard,
And spring is God's way of speaking to men
And renewing the promise of Easter again."

Happy springtime to you and yours. May you be blessed as you contemplate the Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!