For Christians, Easter Sunday is all about hope. It’s the time of year when we remember that the resurrection is, for us, the hope of good things to come. I blog about my faith sometimes, and other times I don’t, but for me, it’s the thing that informs the rest of me.

I’ve heard people say that Christians try to be good because we’ve been told to be good (which is usually followed by some kind of denigrating comment). But I’d say that’s not the case at all. Anyone can be good, and do good things. You certainly don’t have to be a Christian to do so. But when I think of Jesus’ call to follow him, and be more like him, for me, it’s a reminder that I could be better.

I was reflecting this morning in church about some of the fabulous older Christians I’ve met, whose faith illuminates them from within so vividly that they’re almost luminous in themselves. They’re so deeply saturated in love that it radiates to everything around them. They are unforgettable. But also I’m sure they’d say they’re far from perfect.

But in these complicated times, Easter Sunday has reminded me that good has always existed, and will always continue to exist, no matter what happens or how complicated things sometimes seem. And also that I am called to be better – I’m not told to be better, but called to be better. And that isn’t a ‘better than you’ call, it’s a ‘better in me’ call. (In fact, I’m quite certain there are much better people than me, who would never profess to be Christians.)

One of the things we’re told in the Bible, is that love isn’t noisy, self seeking, or delighting in evil (1 Corinthians 13). It is, however, held out to be the foundation of all things. Love is patient and kind, it protects, trusts, and perseveres. I’m reminded that those things are not loud, nor explosive, but steadfast and persistent. Quite the opposite to so much we sometimes want to be.

We humans like to be self centred, and we frequently like to be noisy about ourselves. We have an inbuilt kind of selfishness that sometimes means we say what we shouldn’t, and act like we shouldn’t. It’s a tug of war. We want to be kind, but we also want to be right. We want to put our point across, but we believe our point is better, or more right, or that someone else’s just isn’t as good. And sometimes, in the hurry to demonstrate this, we’re not kind, or gracious, and we don’t think about love underpinning things.

Considering love as the motivator of a Christian, means that we should be holding ourselves to higher standards than we’d often like. As you can see from my blog and its posts, my blog is effectively my soapbox. It’s the platform upon which I frequently express my views. (Sometimes, it’s the place I go to pound out my frustrations and then feel better afterwards. And on some occasions I don’t press ‘publish.’ But there are other times when sometimes I have – and probably shouldn’t have.)

But on Easter Sunday, having now sung about, and heard about, and been reminded of, the foundations of my faith, what I’d like to share is that the motivation to be a better Christian isn’t and should never be, a forced thing. It should be simply an outgrowth of what happens inside as I contemplate and study the things Jesus said and did. And at Easter, we celebrate the supreme sacrifice Jesus made – to lay down his life, not only for one person, but for the whole world, as an outpouring of love, so that all may one day see God.

It’s beyond what I could imagine. I can write about other people making that sacrifice, and making heroic and self sacrificing choices for others, but I have never yet been faced with that choice in real life for myself. Could I do it? I would like to think so, but would I have the courage? I simply don’t know.

So for now, I will be overwhelming grateful that Jesus did something so incredible, it bridged the gap between God and man. And I will pray that one day, I will be better, and that one day, my motivations will be less selfish, and that those things will come naturally from within, out of the love of God that permeates everything. In the meantime, I will continue to be the me that I can be at this point in my life, and the me that God has developed me to be at this point in my life. One day at a time.