Easter Devotional - Day 5: Struggling With The Hard Part of The Gospel

I sometimes wish I had never seen the film The Passion of the Christ. Seeing what is probably an accurate portrayal of Jesus’ suffering was extremely difficult and is burned into my memory. But God has used it to teach me something about myself. The trouble I have with Easter every year is the same trouble I’ve had with The Passion of the Christ. What’s that? I want to avoid thinking of suffering and Easter will not let me. Ah, but you say Easter is not about suffering!
 
Did you know that Easter Sunday is the highest point of attendance for church services across America? Everyone loves the idea of Easter. Death is conquered, nothing to worry about. All victory and no more trouble. The problem is, you cannot get to Easter without Good Friday. See, when you think of the gospel, it includes both. Christ died for our sins, He was buried and on third day, He rose again (1Cor. 15:3-4). I do not want to think of His suffering, but unless I do, I cannot claim His resurrection.
 
Father, forgive me for wanting to look away from your Son’s suffering while desiring to have His resurrection. Help me to look upon the cross so that I may rightly claim the resurrection.