Three Ways to Respond to Good Friday

This Friday, we’ll remember the most expensive gift anyone has ever given us: God’s grace. 

It’s free to us, but it cost God’s Son his life. 

Before we celebrate Easter on Sunday, we must remember what Jesus did for us on the cross on Good Friday. When Jesus died on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sin. He broke the power of sin, so we have the power to change the hurts, habits, and hang-ups that keep us from God’s purpose in our lives. He also obliterated the presence of sin so that one day we will live forever without sin in heaven.

The cross changed everything. How should I feel when I realize what Jesus did on the cross for me?

• Guilty? No, Jesus has paid for your sin. You don’t need to feel guilt. 

• Grief? No, Jesus didn’t stay dead. The Bible is clear that he rose again. We don’t serve a dead Savior.

So then, how should we respond to Good Friday? The Bible gives us three reminders of how to respond to what Jesus did for us on the cross. As you prepare for this weekend, keep these reminders in mind. Let’s lead in a way that demonstrates what Good Friday and Easter Sunday mean to us. 

1. Let’s make our lives count. “Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 MSG).

You can’t understand the grace of God and continue living the same way you’ve always lived. You can’t ignore his commands. You can’t spend your time on what’s trivial and spend your money frivolously. You have been bought with a price: the death of God’s Son. 

Because of what happened on Good Friday, you were spared for a purpose—and God wants you to fulfill it.

2. Let’s give generously. “You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 MSG). 

If you want to measure how much you understand God’s grace, look at your giving.

Until you learn to be generous with your time, your money, your life, your resources, and your opportunities, you will not be like Christ. Being lovingly generous to others and to God is the ultimate proof that you understand the grace Jesus showed on Good Friday.

God wants us to become like him. He doesn’t need our money. He doesn’t need our time. He wants us to have a Jesus-heart, a heart that says, “I can’t wait to give in every area.”

3. Let’s share the Good News of Jesus. “The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace” (Acts 20:24 NCV).

The apostle Paul understood that the most important thing in his life wasn’t to get married or to become successful in his vocation. The driving motivation of his life was to fulfill the mission God gave him.

Once you become a follower of Jesus, part of your life mission is to tell other people about him. Jesus died for every single person on our planet on the first Good Friday. 

This week, as we gather with other believers to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, your typical neighbor has no clue that Jesus died for them. If that person lives and dies without ever knowing their sins are forgiven and they have a purpose for living, then Jesus’ death is a waste for that person.  

So with Good Friday right around the corner, don’t waste another minute with guilt or grief.

Instead, make your life count, give generously, and share the Good News. There’s no better way to celebrate the message of Easter.