The Cross...Every Day

This time of the year is especially full of messages and devotions about the cross.
The central theme in most churches this weekend will be on the power of the cross and resurrection. But, what does that really mean?

I am the kind of person that tends to say, “so?”
“So what?”
“What does it really mean to me as I walk through my day surrounded by people who I love….people who I (frankly) don’t like…and people who I’ve never met.”

So…what does the cross mean?
When the rubber meets the road, how does that change my Saturday?

I believe in the cross. I believe that Jesus died on it and then was placed in a tomb only to rise out of it ALIVE three days later. And because of this, I am forgiven and offered hope. I am offered a new life! A life that although is not always roses, has a promise of eternal life with my Savior and so much more.
Peace, for one thing. I have seen people in torment that would give any amount of money for peace, but it can’t be purchased with money, it’s already been paid for in blood.

There were years of my life that I spent trying to convince people to come to my church and get involved in our programs. Ladies Night, VBS, small groups, Harvest Carnivals and what not. All EXCELLENT things.
I spent so much time and effort getting people plugged in to church because I knew it would help them, and often times it did.
However, it occurs to me lately, that my “goal” was often to invite and get people to church where they could be ministered to by the pastor and leaders. And often times that even included myself… but for some reason I felt the need to get them to church to really minister to them.

I am now in a season of traveling often and meeting people from all over the country and I don’t have a church to invite them to because most of them don’t live anywhere near my town. After spending a few days together, I may never see them again.

The “so” of the cross to me is that I have to see every person as someone who needs to know that they are loved and forgiven. I need to live my life in a way that speaks the reason for the cross and resurrection, even if I don’t have the opportunity to share it with my words. My life should offer that peace…does it?

A look and smile, a hug to the hurting, an offered prayer, a word of encouragement or maybe a meal for the hungry.

Rom 5:10
10 For if, when we were God's enemies,
we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!
NIV
The cross is all about reconciliation.

I looked up the word reconciliation and came up with this:
RECONCILIATION
The restoration of friendship and fellowship after estrangement.
(from The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)

Where is your calling you ask? What is your ministry gift? We all FIRST have the same ministry…it is the ministry of reconciliation. From world-known evangelists to the sweet mom raising her quiver full of children.

2 Cor 5:18-21
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
NIV

Start with your home…then go out into “your” world- wherever God may have that- and BE His love.

That’s the cross…everyday.

Lord, help us to see the world around us the way that You do...and in the
light of the cross and power of the resurrection. The price You paid was so
incredible, Father, I pray that you would impress it on my heart every
day.
Our hope is in You Lord!

Also, if you missed it, scroll down to March 17th, Alicia wrote a beautiful post about The Cross. You will be blessed!