Thanksgiving is upon us! In the middle of turkeys and trimmings and relatives and travel, I am thankful. Overwhelmingly so, this season makes me grateful for what I am most thankful all year: the cross.
It was at the cross of Christ that I was saved. It was at His cross that my sins were revealed and expunged. So, that is where I go to remember. That is where I return in repentance to find freedom and peace with God.
Daily, we return in prayer, since His blood buys entrance to the Throne of Grace. It is there that we come, when we receive Communion. We are commanded to examine ourselves, remember, and proclaim His death until He returns. The cross is that important!
It was Jesus Christ and Him crucified that Paul preached – and so do we. His Word declares it, and we echo the amen! Jesus is everything, and His cross sums it up: God’s love paid it all! He, Himself absorbed the sin of the world in the greatest act of self-sacrifice the universe has ever witnessed – and we are eternally grateful…
Jesus took the cup that could not pass from Him, because there was no other way. Only the sinless Lamb of God could do it – and He did. Love compelled Him. Great love for His Father and the Father’s great love for us brought Him to the cross – and through it – to the empty tomb. Holiness won, the righteous died for the unrighteous – and it worked! God’s love never fails.
And so, it is the same love that draws us to the cross today – to give thanks. It is that same love and that same cross that moves us to pepper our prayers with gratitude and become the salt of the earth. It is that same love we celebrate every time we read His Word and remember with the cup and the bread…
So, thank You, Father, for the cross. Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice for me. Thank You, Spirit of the Living God, for reaching others with the power of of the cross! Thank You, Father, for Your amazing grace in which we stand, humbled and holy, in Your sight. Thank You for the cross!
