Easter must renew our lives

Christians the world over are observing Passion Week, also called Holy Week, which takes place between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, also called Resurrection Sunday.

It represents the passion with which Jesus willingly went to the cross to pay for the sins of the world.

Last Monday commemorated Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree that was fruitless and the cleansing of the temple of money changers, while Tuesday marked Jesus’ condemnations and warnings of the hypocrisy and unbelief of the Jewish religious leaders.

Holy Wednesday is used by Christians to remember the day Judas Iscariot plotted with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus, with today, Thursday, marking the last meal Jesus Christ had with His disciples, the Last Supper, prior to His arrest and crucifixion. It also marks the day Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray as He waited for His hour to come.

As Christendom marks Good Friday tomorrow and Resurrection Sunday, which marks the day Jesus resurrected from the dead, there are many lessons to learn by mankind as the death of Jesus Christ marks the focal point of the belief to adherents of Christianity.

But that is not all; the death and resurrection assure all that no matter the hopelessness that stare us in the face as a people and as a country, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The Bible also gives hope that Jesus was crucified with the sins of the world and in turn gave humans righteousness and at the same time the resurrection power, demonstrating the power of God to bring renewal into the lives of men.

The Daily Graphic thinks that no matter which faith one professes, Jesus’ life on earth has a lot to teach the world and Ghana, for that matter.

As we mark Easter, we should, as a nation, not lose hope in our ability to move from our current state to a higher status.

But that will not happen by wishful thinking; all citizens must support good initiatives that have the potential to catapult the country into development.

Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, our parties in opposition have branded many policies introduced by the ruling government bad.

Meanwhile, those same parties, when in government, see the same policies as good.

We urge all citizens to use Easter to purge themselves of selfishness and the once-it-is-not-me-then-it-is-wrong syndrome.

We should copy the exemplary life of Christ and eschew hatred. We must also use the occasion to renew our minds and our lifestyles to reflect what Jesus would wish us do.

When Jesus entered the temple to drive away the money changers, He left an example for us to eschew corruption, misappropriation of someone’s property, indiscipline and selfishness.

As we go through the Easter festivities, Ghanaians must be interested not only in the merry-making that goes with the occasion but also avail themselves to be shaped by the Easter message — love for society and mankind.

It is this, coupled with hard work and the will to die a little for our Motherland, that will move us from a country full of filth to one of cleanliness; a country of lawlessness to one of orderliness, and a country of talk shops to one of action, which will invariably make us great and strong.