The Language of the Cross

Hello again and welcome. Our Daily Bread would like to encourage you today with a reading titled, The Language of the Cross, and it was written by Bill Crowder. Pastor Tim Keller said, Nobody ever learns who they are by being told. They must be shown. In a sense, it's one application of the adage, Actions speak louder than words. Spouses show their mates that they're appreciated by listening to them and loving them. Parents show their children they're valued by lovingly caring for them.

Coaches show athletes they have potential by investing in their development. And on it goes. By the same token, a different kind of action can show people painful things that communicate much darker messages. Of all the action-based messages in the universe, there's one that matters most. When we want to be shown who we are in God's eyes, we need look no further than His actions on the cross. In Romans chapter 5 verse 8, Paul wrote, God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The cross shows us who we are, those whom God so loved that He gave His one and only Son for us. Against the mixed messages and confusing actions of broken people in a broken culture, the message of God's heart rings clear.

Who are you? You're the one so loved by God that He gave His Son for your rescue. Consider the price He paid for you and the wonderful reality that, to Him, you were always worth it. It's my prayer that you draw great strength and encouragement from today's reading found in Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 10. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into His grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him? For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life?

Now let's pray. Dear Lord, I must confess that sometimes I just can't fully comprehend the language of the cross, your love, your mercy, and your grace. And I thank you so much for all three, because we don't deserve it. And Lord, it's also hard to comprehend the kind of love that we give our only child to save the life of another. Yet this is the very thing you did for us, and we are grateful. And thank you for the gift of Jesus and for the forgiveness we have in Him. And it's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.