Victory on the Cross

The significance of the cross, what it meant 2,000 years ago and what it means today, has changed. Today, it is seen as a symbol of hope, as the triumphant symbol of Christianity. What is easily forgotten, is what a cross actually is. It is tool of extreme torture and death. It is strange from the standpoint that we honor how Christ died, from the standpoint of the world. When someone we know dies, we remember them for how they lived. Their tombstones do not typically depict how they died, especially in heinous situations of torture and murder. Imagine walking through a graveyard full of sculptures of people getting shot, stabbed, and beaten. Jesus did many things in His life, which still impact us today. But nothing that Jesus did in His life is more important that His death or resurrection. That is why remember the cross, because without it, our faith serves no purpose. God took a terrible symbol, and transformed it into something beautiful. He took a symbol of pain, and transformed it into a symbol of victory. And this is how our church should be. As Tim Chester writes, "A church of the cross will be characterized by power in weakness, wisdom in foolishness, victory in shame. Its confidence will be in the sovereignty of God." God does not call us into humility to mock us, or to make us feel bad about ourselves. Indeed, humility is not about us at all, but rather it is about focusing our attention back on God. Christ calls us into these things because He wants His church to recognize what it is, and to realize just what He has done for it. God gave us victory, through an object of scorn and shame. How incredible is that? Living Life