THE CROSS IS ENOUGH!

JOHN 15:12-14: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” NKJV

OBSERVATION: Have you ever felt like throwing in the towel? This is an old boxing metaphor for quitting the fight because it is just too hard to continue. Many times we feel like this in life. It seems like our prayers are not being answered. We are struggling to obey God with seemingly no benefit. And, while we struggle in our faith it looks like those who are living in the world are prospering and living the dream (Read Psalm 73 when you feel like this!).

Yesterday was Good Friday. It was the day when Jesus was crucified on the cross. Think about all that Jesus did prior to this event. He had healed untold numbers of people. He has preached the Gospel to the poor and brought deliverance to the captives. He had fed thousands. He had perfectly obeyed the Father and fulfilled the Father’s calling in His life. What did Jesus find at the end of His journey?

Jesus found the CROSS!

When I meditate upon the Cross, when I think of the sacrifice and price Jesus paid for my sins, when I gaze in my mind upon that lonely hill of Golgotha, I am humbled by my lack of faith and appreciation. While I struggle with my molehill – I forget that Jesus dealt with a mountain. When I look at my problems in comparison to the weight of suffering Jesus undertook for me I am speechless. It makes me realize this one important truth…

THE CROSS IS ENOUGH!

The Cross is enough to express the depth of love Jesus has for me. The Cross is enough to demonstrate the heart of the Father. The Cross is enough to answer the problem of my sin. The Cross is enough to break the power of sin and death. The Cross is enough to give my life wholly and unequivocally to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

THE CROSS IS ENOUGH!

If God never answered another prayer. If my life remained an uphill struggle without a breakthrough. If the entire world rejected me as I followed Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. If, as the prophet Habakkuk cried out in his closing lament,

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.” (Hab 3:17-19 NKJV)

Habakkuk, like the saints before and after him discovered the truth…

THE CROSS IS ENOUGH!

Jesus does not call us to obedience without the promise of blessing. Yet, if the blessing never came the Cross would be enough. It is the Cross that proclaims His great love and commitment to my life. It is the Cross that frames His command to love one another as He has loved us. It is the Cross by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. In this world of instant everything I need to remember the call to faith and the eternal truth…

THE CROSS IS ENOUGH!

Father, thank You for the Cross! Jesus, thank You for surrendering to the Cross and dying in my place. Holy Spirit, thank You for opening my eyes to the power of the Cross in my life. As I look at the Cross and as I await Resurrection Sunday, help me to always remember…

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

THE CROSS IS ENOUGH!

Were the whole realm of nature mine,that were a present far too small.Love so amazing, so divine,demands my soul, my life, my all.

(Isaac Watts, The Wondrous Cross)

In Jesus Name!