Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

I am Thankful for the Cross
 
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NKJV)
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14 NKJV)
“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8 NKJV)
“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 NKJV)
 
The Importance of the Cross
We usually emphasize the resurrection when we want to preach a convincing Gospel to those who are skeptics.  However, there could be no empty tomb without a cross.  The Lord died on that cross, He was buried to prove that He died, and He was raised again to prove that God was satisfied with this once for all sacrifice for sins. The author of Hebrews reminds us, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12 NKJV).” 
 
In talking with my friends who would like to believe that all religions use different roads to get to the same place, I have begun asking them how people have their sins forgiven in most of the world’s religions.  In most cases, the answer boils down to “being good” whatever that means in their culture.  I know that I  may be over-generalizing.  Many religions have forms of ethical and obligatory sacrifices, but none of them have the one sacrifice for sins that provides eternal salvation.  I am thankful for a Bible that tells me of a Savior that died on a cross.  As horrific as that act was, it was an act of love for people who do not deserve to be saved.  
 
The Cross Provides Salvation
When we speak of the cross, the unbeliever sees it as cruel.  They see it as foolishness, but to those of us who are saved it is the power of God to save.
 
The Cross Separates
For the one who believes in the Lord Jesus, the cross separates us from the world and its systems, politically, religiously, economically and socially.  No longer are we bound to serve those systems because now we have something better. We serve the Lord.  Romans 6:22  says, “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”  Sin represents self-will and all that Satan has to offer.  We have been set free from that to serve God (or the Lord Jesus).  
 
The Cross was Humiliating
The wonder of the cross is that Christ willingly humbled Himself to become obedient to death on the cross.  How many of us really understand what it meant for the Son of God, the One who will one day rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to become truly human and to allow himself to be humiliated by those He had created and who “hated Him without a cause (John 15:25).” He learned what it meant to be obedient as a man by dying for us on the cross.  (See Hebrews 5:8).  The Lord had to endure the cross as any man would have had to endure it.  He was not a superman who was able to avoid the pain and the rejection and the suffering.  That is what sin causes and that is what our sacrifice for sins required to satisfy our Holy and Righteous God.
 
The Cross Should Make us Thankful
If your religion or belief system does not include this cross, you are missing out on a great salvation.  I am thankful for the cross.  I do not see it as a beautiful thing that we use to adorn our houses and churches.  I do not see it as a good luck charm to hang around my neck.   I see it as a reminder of the cost of my salvation and it proves to me that God loved me so much that He gave His Son to die for me on a cross.  Isaiah reminds us, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5 NKJV).” 
 
That is something to be thankful for this time of the year.
 
Bruce Collins
 
Meditation for the week of November 14, 2021

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