at the cross

hi all,

i wanna share something that God has been reminding me recently: the cross of Christ.

i think that at times, we lose sight of what the cross means, we do not have adequate understanding of what it took for Jesus to die for us. u know at easter or good friday when they always show the excerpt from the 'Jesus' film where He's being crucified? and it's a gut wrenching 3 mins that i always turn my face from because i can't bear the sight of it and the anguish and all that? yeah. i think maybe that isn't very right, a refusal to be confronted with the violence He had to suffer on the cross just so i won't be so squeamish about it and yet at the same time, being desensitized to His saving work.

anyway, so i've been reading from 'my utmost for His highest,' great book, very uplifting but can be quite heavy going but anyway, some excerpts i wanna share since this guy writes really forcefully. the context is that God doesn't forgive us for our sins based on His great love. He forgives our sin based on the cross and the author calls us to meditate on the power of the cross, not the negate the price Jesus had to pay to reconcile us to God.

so yes, excerpts:

'But the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one- 'Against you, you only, have I sinned...' (psalm 51:4)... The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is in the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God is spelled out on the cross and nowhere else... Forgiveness doesn't merely mean that that i am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven... Forgiveness means that i am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Christ.' - Nov 19

'The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favour is through the cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and take our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made it all of ours… Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin… Once you realise all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained by the love of God.' - Nov 20

no need to rush through what i've typed out... take time to ponder, reflect and ask God to give u a fresh understanding of the cross. during communion on sunday, i asked for that, i asked Him to help me imagine the sufferings on the cross for my sin and i was touched by His great sacrifice all over again. don't be afraid to reflect coz of fears that He will be waiting to deal with u about a particular sin or whatever. he disciplines because we are His children. be proud to be called His child.