why it had to be a cross

Thank God for the brilliant minds of the people in His Church. In sharing a message the other day on sexuality, a guy came up to me afterward and said, "you've answered a question for me that i've always struggled with" ...I was afraid of what he was going to say, given the topic of the weekend.

But then he said this, "i've always wondered, if God can do anything, why did he choose to send Jesus to a cross to die in order to reconcile us?"

I admit i've had that question too. I've heard a lot of answers given about why Jesus had to be a man, why he had to be the sacrifice, why it had to be on passover, etc. But all of this stuff makes it sound like the whole Bible is the nothing but an extravagant process of God painting himself into a corner and then thinking, "uh-oh how am i gonna get out of this one? oh, i know, i'll send my son!" That's always been weird for me. I don't think Jesus had to go to the cross and i don't think God had to send him, not in the way we often think about it at least because God is God he plays by his own rules. Besides all of the Old Testament sacrificial stuff, all the commandments, all of the standards that God sets and we fall short of, all of that stuff flows out of what Christ WOULD be/do rather than dictating what he had to do.... he's the thesis statement, they are the supporting points.

So at this point in the conversation, i'm riveted, because i didn't recall saying anything that would help answer this age-old question. And after a long and dramatic pause [maybe this guy should start speaking on weekends!] the man finished his statement, "God chose to go that way to show us what love really looks like."

I agree completely. God could've waved his hand and forgiven our sins, but that would not have let us see how serious God is about his love for us. It wouldn't let us see how destructive our sins are to our relationship with him. And it wouldn't give US the example of what real love looks like.

Real love is sacrifice, pouring yourself out for the sake of another, laying down your life. The cross is not the answer to some math problem that God struggled with for centuries, it's the stuff of Shakespeare or great poetry. It's a stunning display of God's over-the-top love that he had been building up to for centuries. It's also a very specific measuring-stick for any of us who desire to be lovers.

please, the next time you see a cross, don't think about all the intricacies of the atonement, not first at least. First, please think about how much God must love us to do something so cruel, yet beautiful.

love me; love my dog

my mother-in-law has a very old Maltese named barkley. He's getting senile and mean (not to mention the fact that he's even outlived his own bladder control). But she loves her dog. Now some of you may know how i feel about pets (or should i say how my eyes, nose, and throat feel about pets? i'm allergic to most) even the pets i'm not allergic to i have a hard time warming up to. But i try to be careful around my mother-in-law, because she really does love her dog.

My father-in-law is always saying that he never knew the truth of the phrase, "love me; love my dog" until now (i admit i've never knew there was such a phrase) But it's definitely a phrase that carries truth! All of us in the family try to tolerate old barkley because he's so loved by my mother-in-law and we love her.

On this Valentine's Day i got to thinking of God's greatest commandments. Jesus said there was really only one, but kinda two. "love the LORD your God with all your heart...." that one makes a lot of sense. Then he said, "love your neighbor as yourself."

I've noticed that it is very difficult for most Christ-followers to take God seriously on the second one. Loving God sounds great. Loving yourself that's not bad either. but loving others? Hear me on this

If you aren't actively "loving others," then please start questioning the sincerity of your love for God.

Because these aren't really two different commands. They are one in the same, Jesus remarks that this "second command" is just like the first one. See, it's the "love me; love my dog" principle. I CANNOT say i truly love my mother-in-law (and i do!) if I refuse to consider her love for her pup. If we want to love God then that means we don't just tell him over and over in the words of a praise song or hymn, but that means we consider who/what he loves and work our tails off trying to love those things too.

Here's the big point: though God loves it when we pray, worship, make good choices, are generous, etc., the Scriptures teach that there is ONE THING that God loves above all... people, not just "good" people or "Christian" people, but all people (look here too).

I am definitely not perfect in my love for God (and by extension those that God loves) but i am getting less tolerant of Christ-followers who can claim to love God greatly but are going through life either ignoring or outright disdaining those that God loves. I'm assuming that most of us just don't know better. But now we do! Please don't claim to love God while you're punting his loved ones across the room, you're only deceiving yourself. I ask that anyone reading this does a heart-check and a scripture-check (i've provided references above as links) and begin loving God in a new way today... after all, it IS valentine's day :)