The misinterpretation of the cross
Since 2006, I have begun to understand my relationship with the Lord in ways I never could comprehend before. While I have shared with you recently that I have come to realize that for most of my life I was not saved but simply pretending to be a Christian, there has been so much that the Lord has taught me in the last eight years that has changed the way I understand life, my faith, and the lost world around me. As I’ve began to learn I have noticed that there is a lot of misinterpretation about the cross and what it actually means. This should not surprise us; For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). For many, Easter is simply the beginning of spring, a time for families, for celebrating life, and the beginning of spending time outdoors. Stores are filled with Easter dresses, cards, egg dyeing kits, and all manner of toys. Rarely does one find a Wal-Mart or Target with a big stack of Bibles in the middle of an aisle to celebrate and mark this important holy day on the Christian calendar. It has become the sixth largest sales-holiday for American retailers and another reason to have a four-day weekend for scores of people.
To many, the cross doesn’t make a lot of sense. The lost misunderstand its simple meaning that it has. We have all heard people claim that they have problems believing in God; why would God send people to hell? If we were just under the Law, then that is exactly what would happen; however, that is not God’s plan. Well before Jesus walked upon the Earth as a man, there was the plan for the cross. Jesus even told the scribes and Pharisees, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad (John 8:56). Abraham knew that God would make a provision and his faith in that provision: And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all (Romans 4:11-16). Again, the cross is the sincere demonstration of God’s love.
