To those of us who have grown up in a Christian home, have heard the gospel proclaimed as long as we can remember, we risk the tragedy of callousness to its perpetual power.
The cross…it changed human history. It is still changing us and we can never, never stop looking back and marveling at the Great Love that hung there, taking on every one of my sins, and yours, so that we could stand spotless, having Christ’s righteousness imputed to us–not boasting in anything on our own, but boasting in the shed blood that makes us adopted sons and daughters into the Kingdom of God.
It changes my past, it changes my present, and it changes my future. I have a hope beyond this life, this quickly-fading sojourn. A glory that cannot compare with the sufferings of this world. And that hope brings a peace and joy–an enigma to those who are lost.
IT IS FINISHED.
Have you met Him at the cross? There is no trouble, no suffering, no heartache in this life that His death and life cannot remedy.
The answer for this life? A perfect Savior who took your place and paid the penalty of sin you could not pay. Don’t despise the cross! It is the paradox of gore and perfect Love.
“Without the cross of Jesus Christ there is no Gospel. There simply is no good news without the cross. Indeed, any attempt to preach the gospel, minus the cross, is to offer people a placebo rather than the very medicine that they require. To be sure, in the taking of the placebo, they may feel that it has done them some good. But, if we have not really explained to them the meaning and purpose of the cross, then we have neither convinced them of their problem, nor have we been able to convey to them the biblical solution. How can God pardon sinners without encouraging sin? How can he simultaneously show justice in punishment but mercy in pardoning? How can he turn his enemies into his friends and bind them to him in eternal love? How can he admit men and women into heaven without spoiling the holiness of heaven? The answer to all of those questions is in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. As foolish as it seems to those who are perishing, to those who are being saved it is the very power of God.” -Alistair Begg
2 comments
Amen! About sums it up…
I agree with Keri!
Since accepting Christ I have always been amazed at what Christ really went through at the cross. I remember working with the church’s youth group right after I became a believer. The kids all knew the Bible inside and out. They knew what was expected of them as Christians, and yet I saw some very typical behaviors that I have seen at our local high school with mostly all the kids.
So on Easter Sunday I did a special activity. I found a medical report online that basically broke down the Crucifixion into each step and what Jesus would have been going through from a medical point of view. It went so far as to break down how the nails being placed where they were and what it caused to happen while Jesus was hanging on the cross. I saw many of the kids recommit their lives to Christ that day.
When I have a rough day I can always think back to what Jesus suffered for me…someone He didn’t personally know…and how much He loved me to go through such a living hell FOR ME! It puts me into a mood of thankfulness and makes me want to change my mood/actions/opinion to show God how thankful I am for what He sent His Son to suffer for us sinners.