Finding The Cross

This morning when I arose, the words "blessed is the man...." resonated in my spirit. As I searched on my computer, as soon as I read the scripture, I was instantly humbled...grateful for what Christ has done for me...and continues to do for me for that matter.

Often times, we talk about the blessings of the Lord, we talk about the inheritance He gives us, we talk about the armour of His that we wear, how He's clothed us in righteousness....and yet, I wonder, do we actually understand the meaning of such things as "He has clothed us with righteousness?" I don't think we really do. I think if we take "The Cross" lightly and look at it as though it's something we already know and fully understand, then we have missed the point altogether.

I'm awed when I read the words of David the King, how he would say things like "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." David had a grasp on something that very few had...He believed in God's mercy, something God did not often show in Old Testament times. Before Christ, people were ruled by the Law. The Law condemns, therefore, when someone broke it, they were punished. End of Story. Christ has afforded us much more than we realize daily...not only has He washed us of our sins....not only does He remember them no more, He does else as well: He doesn't impute our sins to us either.

What does "imputing sins" mean? Let me explain quickly what these two words mean. Impute simply means "to calculate, count or compute." Sin means "mistakes, missing the mark of perfection."

These two words and their meanings are very interesting because since the Apostle Paul says that the Lord doesn't impute our sins, what He is really saying is that He doesn't calculate all of the times we have missed the mark of perfection. Why is that so amazing? Well, honestly, when I taught our youth group a couple years ago, I tried to explain the Law to them like this:

Ok, we all know that lying is bad. Now, the Law (The Ten Commandments) says that we aren't to do it. Here's the kicker though, not only are we to NOT lie, we are to NOT LIE for our entire LIFETIME. we're not talking about one offense, we're talking about never, ever, ever, ever, ever....and Jesus even said it like this, He said that if a man looked after a woman to lust, then that man had already committed adultery in his heart. That means that if the man had even so much as thought about it, then he was already at fault and guilty of the sin. What this ultimately means is that the bar is raised so much higher than we could ever reach. What God actually expects from us is PERFECTION.

Some might say that is unfair, however, He is always Just. So if He demands perfection from us, and we are to NOT sin for our entire lifetime, then how are we ever to make it to Heaven with a standard like that. Is He against us? No, of course not. What then? What God has done by raising the standard to perfection is to lead us to the ONLY ONE that every HAS lived a completely sinless life, and that's the Jesus Christ of the Cross. Christ never knew sin, and yet He took our sin upon His own body, suffering the penalty for breaking the Law (which is death), He did THAT for US. So...it's not enough to say that Christ has forgiven our sins, there's more at stake than that. He also doesn't give us the punishment in which we deserve every second of every day...which is death. Eveyr moment of every day, we are "falling short of the Glory of God" and missing the mark of perfection. And every moment of every day, God is looking at what Christ did for us instead of looking at what we are and what we're doing on a continual basis. That is a miracle all on it's own....this is the Mercy of God.

So...Thanks be to the Lord Jesus that we can walk through each moment of each day with a grateful heart, knowing that we're not condemned (found guilty) for all of our slip-ups...either in mind or in deed. All because God robed Himself in flesh and came here in the womb of a virgin named Mary, so that He could redeem His children from a lifetime of torment and flames.

Now every time we do or think something that is contrary to perfection, whenever we are accused of the enemy for our many faults, we are able to point to Christ and say "I'm trusting in what HE did FOR ME, not what I do or don't do."

Thank you Lord for the Cross.