Five Reasons I Need the Cross Every Day

The cross of Jesus is central to our faith. Without the cross, we have no faith (1 Corinthians 15.14). The cross is our only hope. While we may get caught up with rules and regulations of religion, we must always bring our mind back to the central point of our faith, it is not trying really hard to be a good person, it is the cross of Jesus, where he was crucified and became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5.21) in order to bring us back to God (Romans 5.10-11). That is why Paul declares, “I boast only in the cross of Jesus” (Galatians 6.14). Below, I give five reasons why I need the cross each and every day.

I am constantly choosing evil over God.

            Every day, without exception, I find myself stumbling into sin. One minute I can be completely and absolutely devoted to Jesus and the next minute, I can be running straight for sin. This constant failure was frustrating when I was younger in my faith. I would beat myself up and feel guilty for days. However, now I realize that the gospel isn’t that I am a good person. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite – I am not a good person. The gospel is that I am in desperate need of a Savior. So, my wickedness is the reality that I am a sin-loving creature.

Thank God, the gospel continues. No one can save himself. Our works are trash before a holy and righteous God (Isaiah 64.6), but while I am still dead in sin, not when I am doing better and being more God-like, but when I am every bit as corrupt, Jesus died for me (Romans 5.8). So, I need the cross every day, because I am not perfect and cannot please God on my own, my righteousness is trash before God. My evil ways remind me that the cross has justified me before a Holy God.

I struggle with evil things in the world.

        As I am writing this it is early morning. About two hours ago, I had a terrible dream. The events in the dream caused me to wake up in a disturbed mindset. The dream reminded me of the intense evil in the world today. As I was lying in bed, having just been awakened by the startling dream, I began to think of all of the terrible things that happen in this world. I thought of rapes and murders and torture and genocide. I thought of starvation and poverty and my mind wondered further and I felt the pain of children losing their parents and parents losing their children. Even worse than some of these things, I thought of the twisted people like the Ted Bundys and the Hitlers and the Geoffrey Dahmers. Those things are disgusting. I had to ask, “Where is God in all of this?”

          When I see the horrendous evil in the world, I am reminded of the intense anguish Jesus suffered on the cross – suffocating for six hours with nails holding him to a piece of wood. After six hours he cries out with great agony, “Eli, Eli, lema sabacthani?” “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus, who was perfectly holy, suffered such intense agony in those moments. I used to wonder, why would God allow Jesus to suffer so severely? The cross was so severe in order to pay for the likes of Bundy and Hitler and Dahmer and me. The evil in this world, whether it is small or horrendous, is a breach against God. The cross was so intense, because evil is so intense. I need the cross every day, because it reminds me that there is hope; that God is not far off from suffering. I need the cross every day, because it reveals God’s saving plan, even for an evil world.

Note: Tim Keller deals with this more extensively

I am aware of the presence of evil.

        With point two, I am reminded that unseen evil is real and present in this world (Ephesians 6.12). Working in the ministry, I have encountered some intense spiritual warfare. Whatever your view may be on spiritual warfare, it is serious and needs to be addressed. When you get serious about God, the enemy will get serious about you. While Satan and demons certainly do not account for every bad thing in this world (we are plenty capable of that), they do create real bonds and addictions and they do motivate evil in this world. There is a dark cloud of unseen forces looming over this world, darkening the eyes of all people. I need the cross every day because it gives me the hope of a Hero-Savior who will triumph and reign victoriously one day. Just like the movies where the hero pulls down the evil powers (I am thinking the Dark Knight), Jesus will destroy the powers of evil. Not only will he destroy the dark forces, but his cross makes a spectacle of the evil in this world (Colossians 2.15). King Jesus will parade over the fragmented pieces of evil one day and the cross will make a mockery of evil. I need the cross every day, because it gives me the hope of a Hero who is coming to save the day.

I fear the future.

        It is scary to think of death. While I am only twenty, I have had a near-death experience. When I was sixteen years old, my mother dragged me into the hospital – I was near comatose. An hour later, I would have been dead most likely. I was immediately put on a stretcher and an insulin IV was placed in my arm. I remember lying there at sixteen years old, asking anyone who was around, “Am I going to die?” Death is terrifying. Hardships, such as the current economic crisis, are petrifying. Think of your fears, think of what scares you, seriously ponder death. You can scare yourself crazy. This life does not offer much hope, it is but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow (Ecclesiastes 2.1-11).

          Upon considering the first three points, the future becomes hopeful. While things may look glum now, I know that the clouds will part and the Son of God will return triumphantly. So, I can say with Paul with at least some level of sincerity, “To live is Christ, but to die is gain…my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better” (Philippians 1.21, 23). The promises that I have obtained through Jesus and his death give me hope. Every day I need the cross, because my faith is strengthened by the hope that is in the cross of Jesus.

I am in a battle for good in the midst of an evil majority

          There is no doubt that this world needs help. Nor is there any doubt that each person is flawed. How is it possible for little, flawed me to be a faint glimmer of hope in this world? How can someone as weak as me stand up to the evil in this world? Surely I would be crushed or quickly sucked in. I could easily be overwhelmed by the fears and distractions that I pointed out in the first four points.

          The world has no hope apart from the cross. I have no hope apart from the cross. If I am ever to help this world for the better, than I must be desperately clinging to the cross, because it is the only thing that will triumph and it is the only thing that will shine beautifully in a world covered by the darkness of evil. If it weren’t for the cross, then the entire world would be consumed by its own wickedness. Because of the cross, I can dream of a day when evil will be crushed. Likewise, as a result of the cross, we too can be part of a day when the grace and love of Jesus shines brightly and every knee bows before our great King Jesus (Philippians 2.10). The cross reminds me that that day is coming soon.

So, it is only the cross that I boast in. The gospel is Jesus and Jesus crucified. Jesus and his cross, that’s all we have; that’s all we need, forever. There is nothing better, just give us the cross of Jesus, it is the power of God to save all men, I am not ashamed of it (Romans 1.16). Boast only in the cross of Jesus (Galatians 6.14).