Saturday, April 11th, 2009
Glory of the Cross
There is a saying that goes: “show respect where respect’s due.” Which makes intuitive sense. If someone does something amazing, we naturally show our respect. However, there is a thought that has been going through my mind for the last few days – which goes along the same lines:
Giving glory, where glory is due.
And it feels like – we’ve lost focus on what it means to give glory to God when glory is demanded of us. We convolute the glory of God with man’s own accomplishments. We value and glorify ourselves, instead of God. We neglect to see the amazing things God has done for us.
The cross is not about us, but it’s all about God. Our purpose in life is to glorify our Father in heaven.
We must realize that Jesus did not die in order to change God’s attitude towards us, but to change our attitude towards God. God who took the initiative of reconciling the world, does not need reconciling. It is in us that the decisive change is needed. The cross was not a sacrifice without which God could not love or forgive us; it was a sacrifice without which we would not have been able to accept forgiveness. The problem lies within us, not with God. He requires no sacrifice except a broken and contrite heart. - Ibid
Today is good Friday. And as I’ve been reflecting today, I’ve come to appreciate and rejoice in how powerful and central the cross is to our faith. Because our Father is most glorified through Christ crucified by:
- Magnifying God’s justice and mercy
- Displaying God’s power
- Uniquely demonstrating God’s holiness
- Showing God’s faithfulness
- pouring out God’s Perfect Love
How amazing is our Father, who would humble himself into that of a man and die on a cross for us. Sin demands atonement.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.
1 Tim 2:5-6
Nothing was left undone. For “it is finished” through Christ alone (Rom 3:26). That is the glory of the cross. (2 Cor 5:19)