What Does the Cross Mean for You?

As people in the church, we see images of the cross often, but have you thought about what the cross means for you?

I want to bring your attention to just a few verses about the cross today. Something to get you thinking, so that when you put on your cross jewelry, or you see a cross on a church steeple, you think about it in a new way this week. In Mark 10:45 Jesus said:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

His perfect, sinless life redeemed us through his loving sacrifice. At the cross, Jesus paid the ultimate price, his life, to give us freedom from the power of death.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Hebrews 2:15-17

Many people seek the throne of God, but what they need to seek is the foot of the cross. Only after we have buried our ambitions, only after we have buried our sinful desires, can we be useful to God. The cross is a hard truth, a hard place where we have to think about our sins, our need for redemption, and our need for Jesus.

We have to acknowledge the cross before God can work in and through us. 1 Corinthians 15 says,

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.”

We’re told in Scripture that Christ now lives in us. The fruit of the cross is that now he has not only saved us from sin, but he is in every person who trusts in him as the Lord and Savior.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

This is a beautiful picture: Jesus died for us so we could live, and we die to ourselves, for Christ, so others can see Jesus is alive.

Jesus died for you so you could live, died for you so you can live to the fullest potential God created you. And through his work in you, others can see Jesus is alive. This is what the cross means: Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Reflection

What about the cross startles you? What would it mean for you to take the cross seriously every time you see it?