We Bring Our Situation to the Cross, Not the Other Way Around

 When I was growing up, I didn't hear about the Finished Work of Christ Jesus.

I didn't ponder the significance of the Cross, except as an example of God's love for us. Even then, though, I had no idea what any of that meant.

In my household, there was no interest in really understanding what Jesus accomplished for us there. In many churches that I attended, the pastors did not explore the fullness of our forgiveness at the Cross.

Jesus took all our sins--past, present, future. This revelation gives us the power to overcome sin in our lives going forward (cf Romans 6:14).

I didn't hear this message growing up. Instead, I got a lot of AA. I was told to "take my inventory."  I was told that I had to confess my sins over and over.

There was no message preached to me that all my sins were forgiven. There was no one who told me that everything was taken care of (cf Acts 13:38-39).

Today, I know the truth, and I am receiving a great revelation of this wonder.

As I learned more about what Jesus did for me at the Cross, there would still be these linger reverberations of bitterness, wrongdoing, and shame in my mind. Why was I struggling with all of this? Why did I find it hard to forgive?

Because I was still depending on myself to do something, i.e. apply the blood, or make sure to counter every idle thought, word, and deed.

But the Cross is not just an idea. It's an event, an eternal event outside of time itself.

The Cross has always been bigger than my head, than the future, then anything that your mother or father ever taught you.

The problem is that we keep treating the Cross as an idea when it's an event, a seminal event which was always in place. It's just that you didn't have the full revelation because you had a mixed message.

You and I are not called to bring the Cross into our situation, our sin, or ourselves.

We are invited to bring everything to the Cross, which has always been provided for us.

Jesus' death on the Cross was a real event, even when my parents did not tell me about it. God had cancelled all the debts against me (Colossians 2:10-13), even though I was not hearing the message in church.

It's essential that we understand the perfect work that Jesus did, and that He did it for us, regardless of whether we understood it or not.

I don't have to conjure up the Cross. His Work stands the test of time, and it stands forever!