2022 Lent Devotional – Day 35

Love displayed on the cross

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor 1:18

There is power in the message about the Cross. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ proved that God alone is holy and righteous and that He only can cleanse the sins of mankind. By His one word, the whole creation is upheld. He formed the man and breathed life into his nostrils. He knew about the wickedness in man’s heart. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.

God is not oblivious to man’s sinful heart. He knows that man’s thoughts and intentions are pure evil: “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” Genesis 8:21. The psalmist also admits that man is a sinner by birth. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalm 51:5. Yet, as a loving Heavenly Father, God did not want mankind to perish.

The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. The picture of the body of Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross is actually God’s love hanging there, bearing all the sufferings for you and me. If God did not love the world, we would have never had a second chance to reconcile with Him.

Apostle Paul rightly said that the word of the cross sounds foolish to the perishing world, but to those who are being saved, it speaks of the POWER of GOD! His power of love for the fallen is displayed on the cross for us to believe in Him and to receive His assured gift of salvation. Although we do not deserve this privilege to be redeemed, His love paid the price and did everything to reconcile us.   

Let us, therefore, take up His cross and live faithfully for His name’s sake.

The cross we bear precedes the crown we wear.

To be a Christian one must take up his cross,

with all of its difficulties and agonizing

and tension-packed content

and carry it until that very cross

leaves its marks upon us and redeems us

to that more excellent way which comes only through suffering.

-MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Ms. Tejaswi Ravinder