"For God demonstrates His love for us in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
how can we say it’s not about us? Of course, selfishness is the opposite of the cross, and the archenemy of love, but what is that to us? Look at this gift given for you. Your selfishness will die with Jesus, and all that will live on is gratitude. The paradoxical truth is, you’ll never be done with selfishness until you finally accept the truth that as far as God is concerned, it is about you.
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It is a sad thing that an event as monumental and manifold in significance as the death of Christ has become so familiar as to be trivial, or even presumed understood. Therefore, I want to combat the former without participating in the latter. Look closely at the gift of the death of Jesus, but do not be fooled into thinking you will have ever looked enough.
Look again now. What is God saying through the torn flesh, cruel exposure, shame and pain of the cross? It would be trivial to try to contain it with a phrase like "I love you.” So don't try to hear what God is saying, rather, look at what He is doing.
God is demonstrating something. He is demonstrating with actions what cannot be expressed in words, or understood in ideas or concepts. The cross is a picture that reveals to the heart what is impossible to grasp with the intellect. It is a picture of God's love for us.
Look at it. The picture says a lot, and I don't presume here to exhaust it or even capture its essence. However, I will say, as one shouting from rooftops, what it proves. The cross proves at least this thing: that God is about mankind, and nothing else.
We are His obsession, His occupation, His center--not the center of His being--He is because He is. However, we are the center of His activity, His intention, His plans and purposes, His creation; and most obviously, as we stare at this picture of unthinkable investment, we are the center of His love.
The cross contains meaning so multi-faceted our minds may never grasp it with any certainty, but our hearts must grasp the evidence it gives us about God's love. This is proof that God's love is more than benevolence or pity for some found race of outcasts who somehow inspired His divine attention for a moment.
God's love for us (and forgive me for trying to represent it in words again) is passion for the very crown of His creation who, soiled and ruined by our own rebellion, were still found worthy to be purchased at the price of the All in All. Look at the picture. That priceless jewel hanging there is the representation not only of heaven's eternal riches, but, more poignantly, of the infinite, eternal value God placed on you.
How can we say it’s not about us? Of course, selfishness is the opposite of the cross, and the archenemy of love, but what is that to us? Look at this gift given for you. Your selfishness will die with Jesus, and all that will live on is gratitude. The paradoxical truth is, you’ll never be done with selfishness until you finally accept the truth that as far as God is concerned, it is about you.
