WHY THE CROSS?

 

                                                         WHY THE CROSS?

                                             (For the local Newspaper)

            “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness…”

  When we speak of the Cross of Christ we are not referring to a religious symbol, but indeed the very method by which Jesus Christ was put to death. Why would we preach such a thing? Isn’t good moral teaching and a godly example sufficient for religion? Indeed for any religion it may be, but not when the biggest issue between us and God our Creator is our sin which separates us from Him. Teaching us about worship, godly morals, good and evil, is important, but the problem is that we have all sinned and have broken God’s laws. We lie, we cheat, we steal, we are greedy, sexually immoral, and even if we hate our brother we are murders in God’s eyes. So telling us how to be good, and no matter how earnest our intentions are, does not improve our standing, nor remove our guilt, nor makes us pure enough to live with Him as He desires. Furthermore, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death, which is why everyone has the death sentence. All our religious rituals and sacrifices do not and cannot remove one sin. In ourselves we are hopeless and helpless before a Pure, Holy, and Just God, Who sees and knows all. What we do not realize is the seriousness of our situation, nor the depth of His love for us. “For God so loved the world (us), that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish, but have Everlasting life.” But first, justice demanded that payment be made, blood had to be shed, “for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

  Indeed we needed to know what God calls right and wrong, hence the Ten Commandments, yet what we really needed was to be saved from our sins, which is impossible for us to do. The Good News is that God did for us that which we could not - He provided a sinless sacrifice. Jesus said that no one was taking His life from Him. He had the power to lay it down, and He had the power to take it up again. He willingly and lovingly became the Sacrifice Lamb for our sins. God our Heavenly Father not only wanted for us to know His will, but to cleanse us from our sins which could only be accomplished through the death of His Son on that cross. Now in Christ we can be cleansed and accepted of Him forever. This He did for all people everywhere for all time! Our response is to believe and to turn to Him. His suffering and death on that cross is no mere religious symbol, but the actual payment for our sins and the promise of our salvation.  Next: Why is Jesus’ resurrection so important?