Sorry for the long delay in this blogging thing. We have been adjusting to married life (it is great by the way!) and having a house filled with 5 people.
As Easter is rapidly approaching, I have been reading some very old books about the cross and the finished work of Christ on our behalf. So I am going to take the next few weeks and write about what I glean from these old books and authors. I am convinced that people who lose their passion for Christ and become apathetic in their walks do so because of a failure to keep the cross at the forefront of their thoughts. I could not agree more with following quotes:
“We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of it.” D. Prior
“The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough to it for its sparks to fall on us.” J. Stott
Scripture teaches:
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11 NIV)
Christ died as the climax of the deliberate plan of God to demonstrate His love for us. The Romans passage teaches that Christ died for the ungodly and that He died for us. When one recognizes their ungodliness they realize that Christ died for them.
Often I talk with people who struggle with wondering if God loves them or not. Why does this happen? First of all, we tend to be very subjective in our understanding of the love of God. Sometimes God seems far away. Sometimes we do not "feel" God.When you find yourself doubting the love of God think of the cross.
Secondly, we tend to look at our circumstances as the measure of the love of God for us. When things do not go our way or turn out the way we had hoped we wonder and think: "If God really loved me, this would not have happened." However, we are told to "walk by faith, not by sight." Walking by sight is trusting in feelings or circumstances more than trusting in the objective truth and promises of scripture. Walking in faith is just that, hoping in, putting our confidence in, and trusting in what Jesus did for us at the cross. Jesus promised that we would have difficulty and deal with difficult people in this life, but to take courage He has overcome them all.
Take some time and meditate on what Jesus did for you:
Isa 53:1-12
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,and he will divide the spoils with the strong,because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. (from New International Version)
This passage was written over 500 years before Jesus died, yet it gives a detailed account of what Jesus went through for us.
I will be back soon with more thoughts on the cross.
