Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Is the Cross More About God or Us?

I ran across this quote from a book called Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris that I am reading. And I thought it might be thought-provoking for others to read too. Harris is describing a sermon he heard from John Piper at a conference in Texas as a young adult:

"I'd never heard anyone speak that way about Jesus's death on the cross. I had always heard it explained in terms of my great worth. I am so valuable that God would send Jesus to die. The question Piper closed his message with deeply challenged me. 'Do you love the Cross because it makes much of you?' he asked. 'Or do you love it because it enables you to enjoy an eternity of making much of God?'
"I left Austin with an unsettling thought that has never left me. If I love the Cross only for what it does for me, I will have reduced it to a monument to myself. But the greatest glory of the Cross is what it ells me about God. A God of justice and mercy. A God who loved helpless sinners like me so much that he came to die so we could be free to know and worship him for eternity. (48)"

Thoughts?

2 comments:

Mary Kate (Sunday School Teacher) said...

I think we have been allowed to make the cross about ourselves because in order to succeed in our faith we need to believe in ourselves. We need to know that we are worth Jesus’ sacrifice so that we can continue worshipping God.

Matilda, Children's Ministry Academy said...

Your blog post has inspired me to read Dug Down Deep. After reading the passage you posted, I found that I certainly have a lot to think about in terms of how I view Jesus' sacrifice and my salvation. Thank you for sharing this—I look forward to reading the book and sharing some of its passages with my teen youth ministry class.