The Glory of the Cross

Sometimes I sit and ponder the mystery of “The Glory of the Cross.”

What a terrible and awful picture! A man, stripped almost naked, beaten until you could see his ribs, commanded to carry a cross as he bled from open wounds that covered his ENTIRE body, and then at the very end nailed to that same cross he carried to hang and die for all to see.

People laughed at him, spit at him, mocked him and told him that if he was King of the Jews that he ought to save himself!

He didn't though. He hung there until He died, every last drop of blood being poured out.

I shudder each time I think of the recent movie, “The Passion of the Christ” and I see the horrors of how people were executed in Roman times. I think of all the people mocking, spitting, and hurling insults at Jesus the Son of the Living God and I am quick to think, "How could you do or say such a thing about my LORD?!?"

But then I realize....

It wasn't just those Roman soldiers who nailed my Savior to that cross.

My sin nailed my Lord to that cross.

My apathy for all that He has done for me....nailed my Lord to that cross.

Every. Single. Sin.

He went and bled and died on that cross for me, a wretched sinner who deserved nothing but eternity in hell, far from the God who I so flippantly sin against.

There is glory in that old rugged cross.

Because my Savior didn't stay dead....

He Rose Again, defeating sin, death, and the devil!

I did not deserve such sacrifice made on my behalf. In my filthy rags of sin, I had no reason to even hope that such good news would be for me.

The Glory of the Cross...

Out of something ugly and worn, came something truly beautiful....Salvation.

Because of the cross, because of the resurrection, I have a reason to hope! This is why you will find a smile on my face at the same time tears stream down my face as I speak of and marvel at how much God loves me.  This is why I have a reason to live, a reason to love, a reason to smile.