I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. – Romans 7:18
The cross is the defining portrait of Christ; it is, in fact, how He defined Himself because He said that He came into the world to die. He was born to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus’ death on the cross is the centerpiece of the uniqueness of Christ because of what it accomplished.
We must first realize that there was a definite need for the cross. We need the cross because of the presence of sin. Sin entered the world by one man, but procreation passes sin on to all men. You never have to teach your children how to lie or throw a temper tantrum because we are all born sinful. We are sinful from the time of conception because we inherit the sin nature. Romans 6:23 tells us that the result of sin is death.
To understand sin, we must understand the standard. God’s standard for holiness is Himself. Many people think there is a scale in heaven and that God will place our good deeds on one side and our bad deeds on the other. They think that as long as the good outweighs the bad, they will go to heaven. But God says everyone has fallen short of His standard, and none of us can earn our way into heaven through good works. We simply can’t save ourselves.
God is holy; He can’t skip over our sin. He can’t tolerate evil, and we are all evil because of our sins. So for us to be able to draw near to God, Jesus’ death on the cross had to take place.
Consider today how you personally need what Jesus accomplished on the cross for your own life.
