The cross has been an area of my Christian walk that has seen many changes throughout my life (as far as its meaningfulness and purpose in my life). I've always believed, ever since I first accepted Christ at a young age, that the cross was the only way I could experience an eternity with God. I've always believed that it is only through the cross that salvation can come. But throughout my life, that belief has affected me in different ways.
When I first became a Christian at the age of 7 or 8, the cross was very important in my life. Even though I didn't understand it completely, I knew that without the cross I wasn't saved so I always held the cross as a very important part of my Christian life. As I progressed in adolescence and went through my high school years, the cross was still important to me, but it was something that I thought I understood. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us so that we could experience eternal life. John 3:16. Most of us have probably heard of it. That's where the cross ended for me. It was so simple to me that it could be explained in one verse. Since I understood it, I began focusing on other areas of the Bible that I didn't "understand" as well. I mostly read the Old Testament because I thought the New Testament was only about Jesus and His death on the cross and since I knew and understood that, I didn't really need to spend too much time reading that. Little did I know, but the cross was much more mysterious than I could possibly imagine and the New Testament had a lot more to offer than the story of the gospel. Apparently, there was a guy named Paul who wrote a lot of letters that have encouraged and shed light for many Christians on their spiritual journey.
When I came to college, the cross began to have more of an impact on my life. I began to realize that the cross was much more vital to my faith than I had thought before and it was so much greater and mysterious than I could ever know. I began to really see the cross as the gracious act it was. Even despite all my sins and all the times I deny Christ and all the times I willingly disobey Him, He still loves me completely and faithfully and chose to die for me so that I could be brought into His family. As John Piper said, "God looked upon me and my faults and my pride and said I want that man in my family! I will pay for him to be in my family with my Son's life!" I began to see the purpose of the cross as the instrument of God's love for us and His desire for our salvation. And for awhile, I thought that was an accurate view.
Recently, I've been listening to a sermon series on the cross by Matt Chandler, my favorite speaker to listen to. I'm not too far into the series, but the first part was about how the whole story of the Bible is about God and not me. There is nothing I can pick out of the Bible that I could say was about me: not even the cross. You see, the purpose of the cross wasn't so that I could be saved or experience heaven. If it were, it would in a sense make me worthy enough to God that He would feel compelled to save me. In reality, there is nothing of worth in me. By myself, I am an utterly worthless sinner. Any worth that I do have is from Christ.
The purpose of the cross was ultimately so that God could bring glory to His name. That's what the desire of God's heart is: from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible says that He is jealous for His glory. And why not? He is infinite in perfection and has created everything and therefore deserves nothing less than to be glorified in all things, including His purpose for redeeming sinners.
Now I do not deny that God loves me more than I can possibly imagine and that He desires for all to be saved. I do not deny that the cross was an act of His love towards me. God didn't have to glorfiy Himself by redeeming sinners. He could have chosen any number of countless ways to do that. But He chose to glorify Himself by redeeming sinners because He does love us. To me, that makes the cross even that much more gracious of an act. Out of all the ways God chose to glorify Himself, He chose the path of the cross because of His great love for us. The cross is still something that I'm far from completely understanding, but the thing I'm beginning to understand is that although God does love me far beyond any imagination, He does not do things for that purpose; He does all things for His glory.
"Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name! Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. John 12:27-28
We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly…Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known. Psalm 106:6-8
