While in Haiti I found myself overwhelmed by the despair, poverty, and number of orphans. What gave me peace weren’t the buildings or schools being built there, but rather the HOPE that they were finding in CHRIST JESUS. Some of our team even mentioned at times that perhaps the people of Haiti are better off than us. This is because many of them literally have nothing, and so they truly cherish and realize Jesus is all that matters. We are so distracted chasing the "American Dream" of jobs, money, relationships, etc that we too miss the GREAT significance of the CROSS. "Everything in our faith pivots on the cross."
"Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Because God is JUST and that means there are consequences for sin. But God is LOVING and that is why he has paid that consequence for us!"
At lunch one day in Haiti I noticed our bus driver, Joseph, sitting alone at the table and for some reason it just really bothered me that he was eating alone. My friend Allen and I picked up our plates and went over to join him. Through a translator we talked to him about his faith in Jesus and what that meant for his life. Joseph seemed to think that he couldn't have a relationship with Christ because he had done bad things in his life and was still sinning. I felt my tears starting to come as we sat there because I could totally relate to feeling that way until I realized what the cross actually meant. My sin is what put Jesus on the cross, and through his death and resurrection I am a new creation!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Joseph, myself, and all of you can be renamed, reborn, and redeemed through Jesus Christ. Not because of anything we have or haven’t done, but because of what HE HAS DONE. (Hebrews 10: 8-14) IT IS FINISHED. (John 19:30) We all, like Barabbas, deserve the death sentence, but we have been set free in Christ!
A lot of us have head knowledge of the cross, but head knowledge doesn't change anything. It enables us to continue living in a way that appears as though nothing is different. We’ve missed the point like so many did on the day of Jesus' crucifixion. But when the cross becomes something you experience first hand not just something you know about, change happens. Who you are changes. Everything changes.
How have you been changed because of the cross?
How does your life look different because of what Jesus did for you?
Praying that we would acknowledge the cross daily. That everything about our lives would be changed because of the real and personal experience we have with what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. Jesus did not die in vain, he died for a purpose. He has concurred death, he has risen, and his purpose was to set you free! Is the cross real to you? Do you know Him? He is GOOD!
Celebrating Easter today and everyday~
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