Make your Easter a happy one

At this time of the year, millions of Christians throughout the world remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of their Saviour.
He came, according to his own words, so that mankind shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Through his death and resurrection, he has dealt a decisive victory over sin and death.
Easter is also connected to Passover, a rite which acknowledges God’s sparing of the Jews from his wrath when he sent the Angel of Death to visit a plague upon Egypt.
In fact, Jesus Christ is perceived by Christians as the Pascal lamb, his blood sparing human sinners from God’s wrath as the lamb’s blood marked the doors of the Israelites so that they might be spared. For millions of Jews, Passover represents the celebration of the release of the Israelites from Egyptian servitude.
During this Easter period, we as believers ought to pause and ponder upon the reason for the death of Jesus the Christ.
It is the greatest demonstration of selfless love, something which is tragically lacking even among professed adherents of the Christian faith.
What we lack is the simple living of that love.
Easter is therefore a time to reflect the central message of the gospel – selfless love.
What a difference it would make, if we became less concerned about ourselves and more about our neighbours.
The gospel has been preached throughout the length and breadth of PNG. What is incumbent upon believers is a simple believing of the gospel message.
The Prime Minister in his Easter message asked that we reflect on the value of generosity and sacrifice for the good of our communities and loved ones.
His challenge is to be observant of our Christian faith which teaches us to be tolerant, to love our brothers and sisters and to live by example through our words and actions. Some say Easter is a time for family gatherings and a time to recognise the renewal of something new.
Renewal is a funny thing; sometimes, like the seasons, it is an unchallengeable law, part of nature’s cycle. Other times, there is no renewal at all. Things happen, good and bad.
That’s it, and there’s no reset. It is hard fact.
Easter for many people is to merely contemplate the moment, whether it is religious in nature or not.
Maybe you go to church every Sunday, or maybe you only go to church on Easter Sunday. Maybe you don’t go to church at all, or maybe you don’t belong to a Judeo-Christian religion. No matter. The contemplation of renewal is a useful exercise.
Consider this moment in history: We have free health care, but we cannot provide it to everyone.
We have communication systems, and we waste it away on trivia and minutiae.
We have a food-production system, and millions of bellies are wanting.
And yet, we always have the hope of renewal, if not the fact.
In nature, renewal is mostly automatic.
For humanity, renewal requires sacrifice, or hard work, or at a promise to do so.
In some ways, humanity can renew itself, at least temporarily.
In this Easter and Passover moment, consider your own moment of renewal, whatever it may be.