In a recent conversation with a friend, he mentioned that he was looking forward to Friday because it was a holiday.  That sentiment struck me as this Friday is for me a special day – matter of fact it is referred to by many as “Good Friday”.  Up until 1990, I too would have referred to it as just a Holiday.  Let’s take a look at a definition I found online for the term “Holiday”.

noun. ( ˈhɑːləˌdeɪ, ˈhɑːlɪˌdeɪ) Leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure. Antonyms. day night time off work.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it.  Acceptable to most people except even today I was amazed to see that our ‘garbage’ was actually being picked up – so the part that says leisure time away from work doesn’t really hold true anymore, anywhere here in the Western world anyway.

I remember, and maybe you do as well, back in my younger days when Sunday was even considered a holiday – stores, business’ etc. were all closed.  In those days it was mainly because Sunday was considered a ‘HOLY DAY’.  

Let’s see what the definition of the term “Holy Day” is.

: a day set aside for special religious observance.

So in essence – a Holy Day is also a Holiday for many of us – unless we happen to work in a store, restaurant, gas station, super market…..  Then it’s just considered another day.

I’ve chosen this subject for my article today because it is GOOD FRIDAY, 2022.  The day we commemorate Christ’s sacrifice on a cruel cross to provide sinners with Salvation (meaning – saved out of sin and God’s judgment and welcomed into the Kingdom of God) where we will dwell with the Lord forever.  No fear of dying anymore. 

Here are a few verses that confirm this wonderful truth from the Word of God:

silhouette of jesus on cross

John 3: 16-17:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

wooden cross and crown of thorns

Romans 5: 6-10  “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

statue of jesus on the cross

1 Peter 2:24 – He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

stained glass of jesus cruicfixion

 1 Peter 2: 24  “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”

heart with cross cutout on red background

 1 John 4: 10-11:  “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

crown of thorn flower

John 11:” 25-26:  “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Although this was one of the most cruel events in all of history – that a sinless man would sacrifice himself for us – the Good News is found in that last verse I provided “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die”.  

I personally accepted this promise as my own on Good Friday, April, 1990.  I became ‘a sinner saved by grace’ – Hallelujah.

Today I pray that this post will lead someone to that same decision.  God Bless each one of you.

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