For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
-John 3:16
We can often hear people say, “We need to move on to deeper things than the cross.” What does that mean? David Nasser quotes, “The cross of Christ is not only the source of our salvation, it is our highest motivation, our clearest example of obedience, and it draws us to rich intimacy with with the one who loves us that much. I believe we never ‘get beyond’ the cross. We only go deeper into our grasp of what it means in every relationship, every desire, every goal, and every decision.” Charles Spurgeon says, “If you sin, sin boldly. Every time you sin, you are saying that sin is worth more to you than the cross of Jesus Christ.” Ouch! So every time we think mean thoughts and every time we lie or think that we are not good enough, we are placing sin higher than Jesus. But, that makes sense. Whatever we hold in our hearts, we make our greatest priority. Jesus paid such a huge price for our freedom from sin to be with Him in Heaven for eternity. He was beaten brutally and whipped savagely. A crown of thorns was shoved onto His head as blood ran down his forehead. His death wasn’t a quick, clean sight. It was dirty and long. He suffered you my sins and He suffered for your sins. But throughout the whole thing He thought of His great love for me and for you. Wow, doesn’t that make you want to run into His arms and give Him a HUGE hug! Just the thoughts of the scenes in the movie The Passion of the Christ make me shudder as I think about the pain that Jesus went through for me. Just the thought of His sacrifice makes me rethink my priorities. How can I live to bring honor and glory to Him today? How can I show Him my thankfulness for what He has done for me?
