I'm not a particularly religious person, but this year I decided to go to some church services around Easter, and I enjoyed them very much. But why do they call the day that Jesus was crucified "Good Friday"? It seems to me like it ought to be called "Bad Friday"! Maybe you can enlighten me. — D.G.

Yes, from one viewpoint the death of Jesus was a tragedy. Here was a Man who had gone about doing good and urging people to turn to God—and yet His life came to an abrupt end because some people saw Him as a threat to their way of life.

But from another viewpoint, the death of Jesus was the greatest event in human history—and the reason is because through His death we can be saved. You see, only one thing separates us from God, and that is our sin. But sin is very serious, because it means we aren't only separated from God right now, but we will be separated from Him forever. As the Bible says, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

How can our sins be removed? How can the gulf between us and God be bridged? We can't do it ourselves; no matter how good we are, we can never measure up to God's standard, which is perfection. Our only hope is for God to intervene and save us—and that is what happened on Good Friday! By His death on the cross, Jesus became the final sacrifice for our sins. We deserved to die for our sins—but Christ died in our place.

Yes, we call it Good Friday because on that day our salvation became a reality. What happened then was truly good—and Jesus did it out of love. Don't turn away from His love, but by a simple prayer of faith open your heart and life to Him today.