We see it all the time … on shirts, tattoos, on motorcycles, bicycles and various jewelry. I am talking about the cross. It is all too popular and commonplace. To many including myself the cross is special. It is sacred! It represents something money or good works can’t buy. I think it needs great respect and treatment. Sadly that is not the case for most who choose to wear it or use it in various ways.
The picture above is of a church building roof where my wife and I used to attend. The three aluminum crosses you see I made in my welding shop I used to have. They were taken up to Chicago to have the aluminum anodized to hold up exposed to all kinds of weather over the years. That was in the late 1980s if I remember right. We moved to Georgia for 10 years, but we are back in Indiana now. I still see those crosses once in a while as I drive past there. We no longer live in that town so we no longer go to that church. Besides the pastor no longer pastors there and the church has changed considerably. Now we attend another church in another city about 25 miles away. We meet in a secular building (The Community Center) we lease so we can’t have crosses like that on the property since it is not our building. Instead we have crosses on stationary, business cards, online presence, portable signs, etc.
It is not the same as the physical crosses, but it is all we can do.
I am not trying to promote or advertise our church … actually it is not our church. It is Jesus’s church. He is totally in charge and that cross … it represents Him. He died on it. He did so voluntarily. Nobody made Him hang on that cross. He willingly and purposely chose to sacrifice Himself there. It had to have been the most significant thing that has ever happened in this world. He did so for you and me. Years I spent in vanity and sinful pride, caring not for me the Lord was crucified. But 49 years ago I fell in love with the Nazarene Who took away my sin. It was nailed to the cross where I received forgiveness of my sin … my rebellion against God. Every year we have a church service where we pound a nail into a wooden cross.
Like most all Americans, I had heard the Gospel Message since early childhood. But there is a difference … a huge difference … between hearing it and understanding it and having it penetrate one’s heart. The Holy Spirit has to truly get our attention. He does so in different ways among us. In my case, it was a matter of me looking around at what was and is going on it the world and discovering that what is happening is all prophesied in the bible. That woke me up so to speak. And anybody who bothers to look with an open mind and receptive heart (not hardened) at all that is going on in the world has to become convinced that bible prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes if they look at what was prophesied thousands of years ago.
There were 3 crosses that day when Jesus hung on one of them. He was totally innocent. The 2 men who hung on the other 2 crosses were guilty and deserved that fate. But Jesus became sin for us … with thunder and lightning, darkness in the daytime. This world He had created groaned in recognition as the innocent Lamb of God suffered and died on that cross.
It was not the nails that held Jesus on that cross. He could have called ten thousand angels to set Him free, but He remained there because of His great love for you and for me. Yes, it was His love that kept Him on that cruel cross. It would be most tragic if it were all in vain in your life. Just to think that He died a horrible death all for nothing and it is your/our fault. That is exactly what is true if we ignore and reject the salvation He alone offers. And when you think of it no one can blame Him for being angry with those who reject Him. He said He is coming back to pour out His wrath, His anger on those who do so. Can you imagine if you had gone thru what He did to save us from spending eternity in hell only to have so many say “no, thanks, I want nothing to do with you.” Wouldn’t that anger you? Eternity is a long long time to spend regretting your choice.
