What the CROSS Means to Me: Easter Edition
So here we are… Easter… or some say Resurrection Sunday!!! You know, this special occasion can really come and go like we are moving through the motions which is a shame because Easter represents Christ’s death & resurrection. It’s the whole reason why we are perfect unity with the TRINITY (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Maybe you don’t have that problem but I know for myself, if I don’t spend intentional time reflecting over today, it can become like any other day. I’ll have to admit that the same can ring true even for Christmas for me. Don’t judge me…judge yourself LOL!
I’ve gotten into the habit ever since becoming a disciple, to take time to sit and reflect for myself what the cross means for me. It is the very reason why I am able to call God, Abba Father! The whole reason why I am a co-heir with my elder brother, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:15-17 NLT). My very being…MY PURPOSE. I can say a lot about the cross and what it means to me but, I’ll just point out one particular scripture that always cuts me and helps me to remember how Christ went to the cross.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
John 17:20-26 NIV
I remember being a brand new believer of Christ and reading this passage. I thought to myself, ‘He’s praying for me.’ I don’t know about you guys but, I can sometimes feel that what I read in the Bible does not apply to me. I don’t know what it is…I believe in what I read but sometimes, subconsciously, I can think that it’s not directed toward me. So to read a passage like this…that Jesus was previously praying for his apostles right before being arrested and going to His death and then ends out his prayer saying that I pray not just for them but for those who believe in me through them…That’s POWERFUL! That’s everybody that comes after the apostles. That’s amazing to see a man who clearly knew that he was going to die and this was what he was praying for…such an unselfish prayer! Such a humble prayer which is evident by him saying that everything that you have given me has been a gift from you, Father! Everything that I had, you gave to me to give to them. Such a humble prayer at a time of distress. And this is why Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us all. This is why he went to the cross so that we could have the opportunity to be in great unity, perfect unity with him and God…this was the plan. This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 5:11-21:
“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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. 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 5:11-21 NIV
Anywho, I’m going to leave it there because I want YOU to take time and reflect over what the cross means to you! My intention is not to influence you but to get the wheels turning as you reflect over Christ’s death and resurrection. Since I spoke about what the CROSS means to me, I’ll link my Christmas post where I write about What JESUS Means To Me. If you would like, leave a comment down below and if you have an accompanying scripture, leave that as well. Let’s keep the conversation going! Happy Easter to you and your family!