Devotional 060409

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is good to have an extra day of rest to spend with the Lord because of our budget crisis. In order to trim our general fund shortage, our office has to implement ‘no pay leave’ policy for headquarters staff. Therefore, every month I have two special days off. Praise the Lord! I need time to really rest in Christ.
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God's judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross: He switched the whole of the human race back into a right relationship with God. He made Redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God.
The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross. Beware of separating God manifest in the flesh from the Son becoming sin. The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-realization. The Cross is the centre of Time and of Eternity, the answer to the mystery of both.
The Cross is not the cross of a man but the Cross of God, and the Cross of God can never be realized in human experience. The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.
The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened - but the crash is on the heart of God.
Thank God for taking the wound of our sins to Himself. He bore our pain and condemnations. The general impression of God in most human religions is angry and serious – it reflects the reaction of the sinful nature of man. Adam and Eve might have passed on to their children that God was a mean and terrible God because He kicked them out of the Garden of Eden, and never allowed them to re-enter His heaven again. It was true if the Bible stops at chapter three of Genesis. But what human beings did not know was the fact that God reached out to mankind ever since in order to bring them back to eternal Garden of Eden. After all the human effort failed, God came into the world to rescue man to Himself again. This is what the cross is all about. And this is the most precious gifts that we can receive from the Lord. Praise His holy name.
Hope you will find time to spend with your savior and your Father today.
Love you in Christ,
Lawrence