Easter Devotion - Why is Easter So Happy? (Printable Version)

One day I was just sitting all by myself thinking about Easter and what it means. After a couple minutes, Mom came by. So I asked, "Mom...what does Easter mean? Why do we celebrate Easter? I know its not just a day to dress up and have Easter egg hunts. I know there's more to it than that. What do you think?" Mom just smiled and said, "Well, Easter is the day we celebrate the "Res-ur-rec-tion of Jesus". I didn't have a clue what that meant, so I asked her, "What does that mean?" She said, "Well, that means Jesus was raised to life again. Then she added, "Lets start from the beginning so you can understand it a little better." And this is what she told me: ___________________________________________________________________________

It all started when God made the first people, Adam and Eve. God loved them so much. He gave them the whole garden to enjoy, except there was one rule that he gave them. He gave them this rule to protect them. He told them they could enjoy the whole garden, except they could not eat the fruit from one tree. They could not eat from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". And, can you guess what happened after that? That's right. They ate the fruit from that tree. They didn't listen to God, and they didn't trust God. They ate the fruit anyway, even though God had told them not to.

Now there was sin in the world. Now they no longer enjoy the same closeness with God. And, they could no longer enjoy the garden once had sinned. They felt bad and tried to hide from God. And, since they didn't obey God, now they would die. Death is the punishment for sin. You see, sinful people cannot live with God, who is holy.

It makes God sad when people sin. He loves us and wants to be friends with us. He wants us to live with Him forever, just like he wanted from the beginning when He made Adam and Eve. So do you know what He did next? God loved us so much that he made another way for us to be close to Him. In Old Testament Bible Times, God told people they could sacrafice innocent animals to pay for their sins. This plan was good, but there needed to be a perfect sacrafice in order for sins to be taken away completely. So, the Perfect sacrifice was made. Do you know what that was?

Do you remeber the Christmas story we learned a while ago? The one about baby Jesus. Well, that was all part of God's plan. He sent is only Son, Jesus, to the earth. Only Jesus could be the perfect sacrifice because He lived a perfect life. That's right. Jesus never sinned. He never did anything wrong. He did what God wanted completely. And Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to suffer many things. He suffered so much he even died on the cross to pay for our sins once and for all. Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a tomb (which is a big rock). When Jesus died on the cross, he was taking the punishment for our sins. He was taking the punishment that we deserved. It was a very sad day for all of Jesus' friends. But you know what? The story didn't there! God changed everything. He turned something really sad into something really happy! This is what happened:

Three days later, on the very first Easter morning, Jesus' friends went to visit the tomb. But, guess what? Jesus wasn't there! What the angel told them was true. Jesus had risen from the dead! He was alive! And, by rising to life again, He showed us that we can live forever too, if we believe in Him. So, that is why Easter is so happy! If we believe that Jesus died for our sins, we can live forever with Him too!

We celebrate Easter because Easter is the day when Jesus didn't stay in the tomb. He rose again! God raised Him from the dead. Now He lives with God the Father. Jesus gave up his life so that we could have life too. He did this because he loved us so much. Even though we were sinners, and were far away from him, he made a way for us to be close to Him again.

So won't you come close to God. All you have to do is believe that Jesus died for your sins. Ask Him to come into your heart and forgive your sins. Turn from your sin and ask God to lead you. When you do that, He doesn't leave you all alone. He will send you his Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you. He gives us the strength to follow him and not do wrong things. When you believe in Jesus and decide to follow him for the rest of your life, He stays by your side and helps you want to do the right things. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

"Wow!, said Huggie-Lamb. Jesus really does love people a lot, doesn't He? So that's why, on Easter, everybody is so happy and celebrating! That really is happy! That is so happy it makes me feel like doing flips! (Make Huggie-Lamb 'do a flip') Whee! " I want to go to heaven and be with Jesus too! Don't you?"

PRAYER:

Dear God,

Thank you so much for making a way for me to be right with you.

Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay for my sins.

I believe Jesus did this for me. Now I want you to come into my heart.

Please forgive me and help me to live for you.

Thank you Jesus, for your promise that I can live with you forever!

In Jesus' name,

Amen.

Lesson

I hoped you liked the lesson. Now you know what Easter is all about! Lets do some crafts and activities about Easter! You can even make a puppet of me!