The Cross

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

Jesus died for our sins — He was crucified. It is our full confidence [faith] in what Jesus accomplished on the cross, the gracious act of God, that we become Christ followers: “For by grace you are saved through faith…” [Ephesians 2:8].

The necessity of the cross can be inferred from its meaning. It comes from the Latin word crux, from which we get our English words crux and crucial, both meaning, that which is essential. 

Despite that, the cross is neglected in many churches today. Generally speaking, people today do not believe in justification by faith, but rather, justification by death (the idea  that everyone goes to heaven unless they are extremely bad like Adolf Hitler) — the only requirement to get into heaven is to die. 

That idea has a low view of God’s holiness. God does not simply wave sin away. He has always required a payment for sin and trespasses in order to forgive. No, God does not wink at sin or accept imperfection at His judgment seat. He is perfectly holy and demands from us what only He can graciously provide.

Jesus bore our sins when He died on the cross. The Apostle Peter said it this way, “He [Jesus] personally bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” [1Peter 2:24]. 

Whatever you do in life, do not stray from the cross. The great songwriter, Fanny Crosby, said it well:

Jesus keep me near the cross,

There a precious fountain-

Free to all a healing stream-

Flows from Calvary’s mountain.

In the cross, in the cross,

Be my glory ever; 

Till my raptured soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2