As Easter Sunday approaches, I’m reminded of something the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Galatians:
But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14, CSB)
A cross was the last thing anyone in Paul’s day would have bragged about. It was a tortuous, horrible method of execution.
Christians, though, see the cross as a symbol of God’s love. While we’re incapable of fully understanding God’s love for us, we see the perfect picture of his love when we look at the cross of Christ. Because God is perfectly just, our sins had to be punished. But because his love for us is perfect as well, he paid the penalty himself.
The cross is also a mirror. When we see the cross, we see our sinfulness and unworthiness. It was our sin that Jesus paid for on the cross. We can’t fully comprehend the enormity of God’s love for us until we realize just how ugly our sin was to God.
Once you start to understand the gravity of your sin, then you’ll begin to see how much God loves you, and you’ll be like Paul, glorying in the cross. It’s the means of our salvation. It’s how we can have a forever personal relationship with Christ.
Without the cross, we’d still be lost in our sins and destined for eternity without God. But with the cross, we’re declared not guilty of our sins. We’re free from the punishment of death. We’re alive in Christ for all eternity.
That’s why Paul said he boasted in the cross.
The cross shaped not only Paul’s view of God but also his view of the world. He says, “The world has been crucified to me through the cross.” Paul had lost interest in the pleasures, honors, and values of this world. He could live without all that. It was nothing compared to his relationship with Jesus:
But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:7-8)
Paul also said, “And I to the world.” He had been crucified to the world. All those who placed their confidence in the pleasures, honors, and values of the world had no love for Paul. The world was no longer his home. It had become dead to Paul, and Paul became dead to the world.
Paul could live with that. What he knew would sustain him. He knew that he was once lost, but now he was found. He was once an enemy of God, and now he was a child of God. He was once destined to pay for his sins, and now, because of the glorious cross, his sins had been paid for. He was once separated from God, and now he had a relationship with God that would last for eternity.
All because of what happened on the cross.
As we head into Easter weekend, our focus is naturally on the incredible resurrection of Jesus. Think also of that Friday and what Jesus did for you on that cross. Focusing on Friday will make Sunday even better.