I’ve been thinking a lot this week about what Christ’s death on the cross really means to us.

There’s the theologically-based answer, that God is perfect, and since we aren’t… there needs to be a payment for our sins before we can come into relationship with Him… Since Jesus was without sin, his willing sacrifice through death pays our penalty…

That answer is profound… but for many of us that have exposure (at some level) to the Christian faith… it can come off like a definition, which really isn’t all that personal… 

I mean, there are a ton of people who would say they agree with that answer, but agreeing in their minds about truth isn’t the same as letting a relationship with Him transform their lives.

When I read the accounts of Jesus in the Bible, I’m amazed how he led his ministry on earth… he never accepted things the way they were, and he always sought to free people from whatever bound them.

To the religious person who thought they knew it all, he called them blind.

To the blind person, rejected by society, he gave sight.

To the promiscuous lady, searching for love in the beds of strangers, he gave relationship.

To the bridegroom worried that he had run out of drink, he gave wine.

Time after time again, he went to the heart of their pride… their issue… their pain… their anxiety… and he took it away.  He didn’t ignore it… he identified it… and offered freedom.

His death is the ultimate reminder of this… he looks down from the cross and says…see… here… I’m going through this so you don’t have to… stop where you are and turn towards where I am.  

I pray I find a way to more deeply accept his invitation each day.