The Meaning of the Cross, Day 22
The Demonstration of the Cross
Welcome to Day 22 of our series, “40 Days of the cross.” Each day we are taking just a few minutes to look at a word which will help us better understand the meaning of the cross. Today’s word is demonstration.
In recent years, demonstrations have become commonplace. People demonstrate against injustice, against violence, against poverty, and any other number of causes. We call it a demonstration because people are demonstrating their anger or their passion. Here it is! It’s important enough for me to show to you how much I care about this cause! It’s worth gathering together with others, it’s worth sitting on the steps of the state capitol, it’s worth me singing a protest song and carrying a sign. You are proving your feelings and your heart regarding this matter.
When something is important to you, you can demonstrate how important it is to you. If you are passionate about a cause, you can prove it through your actions. Perhaps you’ve donated money to a charity, walked in a protest march, written to a congressman, or some other action: that is a demonstration of how strongly you believe in that cause. If you believe in a cause, but you have done nothing about it, then there is no real proof of your belief or your passion. Your actions are a demonstration of how strongly you feel.
In the same way, the cross is a demonstration. Look at what it says in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The apostle Paul is saying that the proof of God’s love is in His actions; and what an action it was! God’s demonstration of His love is that Jesus died on the cross, Not when we were redeemed and holy, but while we were still broken sinners, God demonstrated His love through the cross. God planned the death of Jesus on the cross to demonstrate His love. (We’ll talk more about God’s plan tomorrow.)
After we pray today, please take some time to think about the cross as God’s demonstration of His love.
Heavenly Father, I believe the death of Your Son on the cross was a demonstration of Your love for us. Help us to demonstrate our love for You by surrendering our lives to you and following Your Word. I ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.
Thanks for listening/reading today.
Continued tomorrow
