We see them everywhere, decorative crosses. Hanging on walls, sitting on table tops, even hanging around peoples necks. I mean, they are nice decorations, right. They have all these designs in them and are supposed to tell people “Hey I’m a Christian.” Unfortunately people misunderstand the Cross.
The Cross of Christ was not pretty. It was bloody, and it was hard. Jesus was beaten to the point that he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man (Isaiah 52:14 NET). He was mocked by soldiers, spit upon, railed on. He was yelled at by crowds. Then He had to carry His cross, although he fell underneath its weight and His exhaustion. They reach the top of the hill and nail His hands and feet to the Cross. They then lift it into the air and it slams in place as His body weight comes down upon the nails. He then hangs there for 6 hours as He is still taunted and mocked. Finally He dies after enduring this excruciating experience.
I think it’s important to understand this. The word “excruciating” comes from the Latin word excruciare, which means “to torture” or “to torment”. Excruciare is based on the Latin word crux, which means “a cross”. The word “excruciating” literally means “as painful as a crucifixion” or “out of the cross”.
At any point Jesus could have said, “That’s enough, I’m not doing this.” That would have been it. He could have stopped it all, but He didn’t. Why, because of His love for us. Because of His love for you, yes you as an individual. He loved you this much. It wasn’t the nails that held Jesus on the Cross, it was His love. Remember this next time you feel the thought, “I don’t know if God cares about me, I don’t even know if He loves me.” Think back to this when these thoughts try to creep into your mind and abolish them with this. If Jesus never did anything else for us, this was enough.
Also remember this when you see a cross or display a cross. The Cross came with sacrifice. Jesus is not to be a decoration in our lives. Something to just pretty up our lives. Jesus should be the center of our lives. We are supposed to have a cross in our lives. Jesus said If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23 KJV). We must have sacrifice in our lives. Sacrificing our own desires for His. We must live for Jesus and like Jesus. Let’s aim to be more like Jesus and have Him at the center of our lives, not just a decorative ornament.
Galatians 2:20 KJV I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.