Why the Cross?

Why indeed. Is it a symbol? A part of a religious belief? Why are so many so wound up over the cross?  

The part you know about is Jesus, God in human form sacrificing Himself for no other reason than we needed freeing from the curse. That curse terminates each of us, no matter how good, no matter how horrendous our lives.

Unless we ask Him to apply that sacrifice to our lives.

The part with less publicity is that the cross was crammed with sin, all our sins. Jesus did not have any of his own.  None of the enemies he encountered could prove them.

The amazing graphic above exemplifies that reality. If you look carefully at the image you will see ‘serious’ sins and those we consider ‘misdemeanors.’

God does not see sin that way. We are all rebels who have turned against everything good in order to pursue our own pleasures, whether that be gossip or gluttony, murder, mayhem, or indifference to one and all. To this, if we miss doing the right thing, we have sinned.  Anything or anyone we value more than God is idolatry. And, if that weren't enough, there is the sinful nature we were all born with.  Sin, general and specific, my neighbor's and mine.

As someone once put it, “I never had to teach my child to lie or demand his own way, the word ‘no’ was his superpower.” Yep! Rebellion from the cradle.

That cross was the place of reckoning. The ‘whys and hows’ of that sacrifice are beyond our knowing totally. We can know what He has told us about its power:

...having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.    Colossians 2:14.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”     1 Peter 2:24.

We are healed by what HE had to endure. By His grace God no longer sees our sin but Holy Him!

Will you accept that sacrifice for yourself? Grace, His gracious favor, is what can cover you with the power of the cross.  Then your sins will be nailed on that cross too.  You decide...

  Part two is the Resurrection... without that, the invitation of the cross would be powerless.  Read in Why the Easter Resurrection Raises More than Jesus to discover why...  

Image by an unknown artist found on churchpop.com and at Pinterest.