THE CROSS CHANGED EVERYTHING
Let’s talk about the cross. Not the jewelry. Not the artwork hanging on a wall. I mean the rough wood outside Jerusalem where the Son of God stretched out His hands and let the world do its worst. That cross.
The cross was not a tragic accident. It was not Rome flexing muscle. It was not history spinning out of control. It was the plan of God unfolding right on time. The Word of God says, “He was pierced because of our transgressions, He was crushed because of our iniquities; the punishment that secured our peace fell upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep wandered away, each of us turning to his own path; and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6). That is not poetry for a greeting card. That is substitution. That is love with skin on it.
The cross tells the truth about us. We were not mostly fine. We were not just a little off course. “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwritten record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Having disarmed rulers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:13-15). Dead means dead. But nailed means paid. And triumph means Jesus did not lose; He won.
The cross also tells the truth about God. He is holy beyond our categories and loving beyond our comprehension. He did not sweep sin aside. “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. As it is written, I will bring to nothing the understanding of the wise. Where is the wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God overturned the wisdom of this world? Since the world through its wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the proclaimed message to save those who believe. The Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to some and foolishness to others, but to those who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18-24). The world calls it weak. Heaven calls it power.
And here is where it gets personal.
Jesus did not stay at a safe distance from our pain. Paul writes, “Though He existed in the form of God, He did not cling to His equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). He stepped down. He stepped in. He went all the way to the bottom so He could lift us all the way up.
That cross means your shame does not get the final word. Your past does not get the final word. Your worst day does not get the final word. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). None means none. If you are in Him, the verdict has already been read.
But the cross is not just something to admire. It is something to carry. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The cross saves us, and then it shapes us. It teaches us to forgive when it costs. It teaches us to love when it hurts. It teaches us to trust when we cannot see the outcome.
The cross is not small. It is not tame. It is the place where justice and mercy embraced, where wrath and love met without canceling each other out, where the Lamb of God gave Himself for the sins of the world. And three days later, the empty tomb proved that the cross worked.
So when you look at the cross, do not see defeat. See payment. See victory. See the Son of God saying, It is finished.
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Lord Jesus, thank You for the cross. Thank You for bearing my sin, my shame, and my judgment in Your own body. Teach me to live in the freedom You purchased and to carry my cross with humility and courage. Let the power of the cross shape my heart until I look more like You. Amen.
BDD
