W C Douglas' Notebook

The Message of Easter: God's Love, Not Our Performance

Perhaps one of the most liberating truths of Easter is that God's plans for us aren't contingent upon our perfect performance. The resurrection wasn't earned by humanity's good behavior; it was a gift of pure grace.

Too often, we fall into the trap of spiritual performance, believing that our standing with God rises and falls with our moral scorecard. Easter shatters this misconception. The empty tomb proclaims that divine love operates on a different principle altogether—one based not on how well we behave, but on how deeply we believe.

This truth is both humbling and freeing. It means our failures and shortcomings don't disqualify us from experiencing renewal. It means that God's transformative work in our lives isn't dependent on our having everything figured out first. Instead, it begins with simply opening our hearts to believe that new life is possible.

Easter reminds us that new beginnings often start small—a seed planted in darkness, a stone rolled away, a whispered message of impossible good news. The most profound transformations rarely announce themselves with fanfare. Instead, they begin in quiet moments of faith, in choosing hope when evidence for despair seems overwhelming.

In our personal lives and in our wider communities, renewal follows this pattern. It starts with believers who dare to imagine something better than the status quo, who choose reconciliation over division, compassion over judgment, and hope over cynicism.

So the question becomes: How do we carry its message into our daily lives? How do we embody the hope of resurrection when meeting the challenges that surround us?

Maybe it begins with remembering that we are not mere spectators to God's work of renewal—we are participants in it. Each act of forgiveness, each choice to love across dividing lines, each moment of seeing others as God sees them becomes a small echo of that first Easter morning.

I think Easter calls us to be ambassadors of a different reality—one where new beginnings are always possible, where hope transcends circumstance, and where transformative love remains the most powerful force in the universe.

Maybe we can all find the courage to believe deeply, to hope boldly, and to participate fully in the ongoing story of renewal that began with an empty tomb so long ago.   

Happy Easter!   wcd