Why the Cross?

Have you ever wanted to ask God, "Why did you choose the cross?" I have, and it went something like this:

ME: Thank you for my salvation, O God. Thank you for love and grace, hope and peace. Thank you for eternal life, but the way you chose, the cross, is so brutal. Couldn't you have thought of an easier way? What about personal sacrifice instead of Your Son?

GOD: I used the blood of goats and lambs for my people to sacrifice for their sins, but it became tradition and lost its meaning.

ME: Couldn't you have established some guidelines, a few rules to teach us how to live?

GOD: I wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, but when people thought they kept them, pride grew in their hearts, not love for me or for others. If they truly followed the commandments, they would have grown to love me and each other. They learned to love themselves.

ME: Well, couldn't you have sent people to warn us about choosing our ways instead of your ways? 

GOD: I sent the prophets. People persecuted some and killed others. I finally sent my only Son to teach, to set an example of how to love each other and finally, to be their sacrifice, to redeem them from their sin nature.

JESUS: ​For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should to perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). 

Think About It
God's ways are higher than our ways. He thinks of everything before we do. Although the cross is brutal, Jesus bore our sins there so we wouldn't have to. Many people do not believe this, but one day they will. It is written: 'As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God’ (Romans 14:11). When that day comes, I hope you will bow and confess out of love for Jesus, not as a stranger to Him. He loves you and waits for your response to His love. Say His name, confess that you have not lived according to His ways, and ask Him to help you love as He has loved you.

Pray About It
Thank you, Holy God, for redeeming me from a pit of despair and raising me to the hope of your salvation. The cross was brutal, but thank you for taking my place and giving me your righteousness--something I do not deserve. I love you and I am yours. Amen.

---