The miracle of the Cross is not
sublime! There is a mistaken teaching
that has been passed around for hundreds of years that when Jesus Christ was
crucified, he magically erased our sins, blotted them out as it were like
divine suds. That is not the case at
all. He bore our sins; took them into
His own body and they putrefied within Him, sucked the life out of Him, and
each one added to His misery. Why is the
Church so reluctant to see sin as the monstrosity it is? Each sin we commit today adds to the shame
and horror of the crucifixion Jesus endured two thousand years ago. Only God could do this; bear sins committed
tomorrow and not just the ones of yesterday.
As we sin and sin unthinkingly, we strike Jesus ourselves with the whip,
drive the stake deeper in through his feet, take the rod and break it more
ferociously upon his back and sides. The
sins of today are not nothing; they pry out of Christ's body more blood and
break His heart even worse. We may be
free of real guilt but that does not mean Christ is. He bears them all, the sins of yesterday as
well as the ones of today and at some point, won't we just stop it? Won't we fiercely reject the notion that we
can sin freely and easily, and it doesn't matter? John the Apostle says we don't have to keep
sinning willy-nilly; we can put an end to it...not because we are evolving into
righteousness, but because the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers righteousness. We are such fundamentalists when it comes to
getting our garbage sorted among the various recycling options, but do we give
the same care to the very sin that brought this mess upon us? Pray with ferocious determination that God
would keep you from temptation. The
Christian who comprehends the horror of sins will begin to loath the points where
they invade the soul.
God made him who had no sin to
be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
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