"The Cross is God's plan for freeing you from the guilt and punishment of your past sin. At the Cross we see both the depths of our depravity and the heights of God's amazing love for us. We witness both the terrifying intensity of God's wrath for sin and His unspeakable mercy and love for sinners." -Joshua Harris
While reading this morning this passage really stood out to me. It portrays clearly the reason for the Cross and its meaning. Harris talks about ways that man ineffectively tries to deal with past sin. One point he addressed was "living self-righteously." One way this can be seen is when someone sins and then goes in to shock saying "I cannot believe I just did that." Why is he so surprised? "It is because he self-righteously viewed himself as basically good instead of inherently wicked." His grief over his sin isn't because he disobeyed God, rather it is that he failed to live up to his inflated opinion of himself. Can you relate to that? This struck me pretty hard because many times I have sinned and really beat myself up over that sin for weeks, months, and even years after.
He also says that self righteousness is also seen when a person refuses to accept God's forgiveness. They say, "I just can't forgive myself. Maybe God can, but I can't." This is saying that "my standards are higher than God's standards." Instead of acknowledging that their sin turned them away from God and coming humbly to let Him wash it away, they try to become their own Savior and deal with it themselves.
"The cross undermines our self righteousness." If any one of us were righteous, there would be no reason for God to send us a Savior. I think that we all need to be reminded of daily is the meaning of the Cross. John Stott writes, "Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us (leading to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done by us (leading to repentance)...As we face the cross, then, we can say to ourselves both 'I did it; my sins sent Him there,' and 'He did it; His love took Him there.'"
Lord, i pray that I will be humble in bringing my sin to the Cross and instead of dealing with it myself, I will lay it all down and let your grace wash it away. I pray that I will not beat myself up over my sins and my past but rather accept your love and forgiveness and praise you each day for sending your Son and loving me so much to go to the Cross and bear it all. <3
