Christians have been charged to see the period of the Easter celebration as a time to change their destructive behaviours and reconcile themselves to God.
Mr Arinze Obasi said this in the Church of Pentecost Awka, Anglican communion, in his message on Sunday to mark the Easter service, in his sermon, titled “The coming end to all tragedies”.
Obasi said in Awka that most people just come to church as a ritual of fulfilling activities as Christians and have taken the celebration of Easter as a time of merriment.
He urged the faithful to cash in on the celebration to live right and make the risen Christ meaningful in their ways of living and daily interaction with the people to uplift the tenet of Christ in their environment.
“Isaiah 25 verse 7 to 8 has the promise of what God will do to those who trust him. He promised to destroy mountains and swallow death in victory for the people.
“I urge you to read the same Isaiah 25 verse 9 to 11 passionately and advice yourselves. It spells out the results one gets by honouring Christ,” he said.
Obasi said that Christians need to use the period for service to humanity by extending their goodwill to the vulnerable in their midst and encouraging and directing those who need assistance.
He defined Easter as a time to promote the reality of the Christian faith by forbearing one another as each other’s brother’s keeper instead of living in a centrifugal manner that opposes the dictates of Christ.
“When people live worldly without fear of God, the tragedy of life sets in and that would breed social ills and confusion instead of the enjoyment of peace, as mountain of troubles sets in and this could be disastrous.”
He said that the bible, in the book of Amos, chapter 8, verses 1-2 and 11 to 12, stated the outcome of people living out of grace and warned that the risen Christ should not be taken for granted but made to be meaningful by living right.
Obasi said that the meaning of ”He is Risen” is a confirmation of the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“In the holy book of John 2:19, Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. His death and resurrection was within three days.
“He has risen confirmed our salvation in Christ that said we were saved and Easter is adjudged the most important in the history of the church. let us embrace word to evade the tragedy of not knowing Christ,” he said.