![\"cross,](\"http:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5464\/9020030212_c879d1192f_n_d.jpg\")
When you look at the cross, what comes into your mind?\u00a0 By this I mean the cross of Calvary, the instrument of Jesus\u2019 death.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting what different people see when they look at it.\u00a0 It seems most can be grouped into three basic categories.<\/p>\n
The first group are those who see only an instrument of torture and death.\u00a0 A symbol they think should not be allowed to be displayed any longer; our society has outgrown such barbarism.\u00a0 Yes, it is a symbol of suffering and death, but if that\u2019s all we see, we\u2019ve missed its purpose and message entirely and know little, if anything about God.<\/p>\n
The second group sees a symbol of their own worth to God.\u00a0 They will say something like, \u201cI am so valuable to God and He loves me so much that he sent His only son to die on a cross.\u201d\u00a0 This too has truth to it, for God does love us and values His relationship with us, but if this view is central to our religious practice, we make the cross into a monument to ourselves, not to God or Jesus.<\/p>\n
The third group sees the cross as a symbol of God\u2019s righteousness.\u00a0 Joshua Harris illustrates it this way: imagine that a group of terrorists attacked the White House, killed many staff members and threatened the very life of the President himself before being subdued and arrested.\u00a0 When brought to trial, the judge hears the eyewitness testimony and watches the closed circuit TV tapes that clearly show the guilt of the terrorists, but then dismisses them with the statement, \u201cI know you didn\u2019t mean it.\u00a0 You just lost your heads and acted impulsively.\u201d then sends them on a vacation followed by a free flight back home.\u00a0 What would the world think of this judge?<\/p>\n
There would be many adjectives being bandied about, I\u2019m sure, but \u2018just\u2019 and \u2018righteous\u2019 are not likely to be among them.\u00a0 And so it is with God.<\/p>\n
If after we have lived our lives breaking all the rules he has set out for us, living as we wish to live, catering only to our own whims we were to come before the great throne of judgment, God were to say, \u201cI know you didn\u2019t mean it\u2026 go on in, your mansion is ready.\u201d\u00a0 It would violate everything the Bible says about God and his unwavering righteousness.<\/p>\n
We, as a species, have lived in rebellion since the very beginning.\u00a0 From Adam forward to you and I, we are infused with a sinful nature that we cannot deny.\u00a0 We must try, but occasionally we will make mistakes.\u00a0 Only one man has ever lived a pure and sinless life.\u00a0 And He sacrificed that life as a ransom against our sins so that we could be justified in God\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
The cross is a symbol of God\u2019s love for us and the lengths He went to, to redeem us.\u00a0 But it is even more; a shining monument to the uncompromised justness of God.<\/p>\n
Think of it; God is omnipotent.\u00a0 He created the universe and everything in it.\u00a0 He regulates the very passage of time.\u00a0 Yet He will not say, \u201cOh, it\u2019s OK this time.\u00a0 Because I love you I\u2019ll look the other way.\u201d\u00a0 Instead, He paid a tremendous price to settle our debt.<\/p>\n
So, the next time you see a cross, I hope you won\u2019t see just suffering, or make it all about you, but will see the greatness, steadfastness, and the glory of our Divine Creator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you look at the cross, what comes into your mind? By this I mean the cross of Calvary, the instrument of Jesus’ death. It’s interesting what different people see when they look at it. It seems most can be grouped into three basic categories. The first group are those who see only an instrument … Continue reading “Looking At The Cross”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[78,57],"class_list":["post-5144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-christian","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21542,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5144\/revisions\/21542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}