Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Jesus’s life saw no defeat, so we could know victory.
In your weakest, most vulnerable, seemingly helpless, public-shame moment,
hanging on a rough-hewed cross between heaven and hell, nailed, bleeding, thirsty,
life ebbing out of you,
victim,
mocked and scorned,
you were a conquering King— not defeated, the Victor.
Seemingly defeated, you conquered sin, Satan, death.
Put to shame, you were putting to shame all who would shame you.
Not cowering in fear, you were parading your sovereign glory,
unleashing your transforming grace, expediting your redemptive plan.
The darkest moment ever became the brightest moment ever.
The greatest defeat became the greatest victory.
The moment of death was a triumph of life.
You were where you came to be, doing what you came to do.
You did not surrender for a moment
so that we could stand firm for a lifetime.
You did not give into defeat so that we would experience victory.
Everything you suffered was for us.
Every battle fought was fought for us.
Every victory won was won for us.
In your moment of apparent defeat you became forever our Victor.
GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions
1. Taking stock of the past thirty-three days, what is God convicting you of?
2. What changes have you decided to make, and how are those changes going?
3. What fresh perspective have you gained on what the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus mean to you?
Read 2 Corinthians 5:14 –21 NLT, and rejoice in the gospel message.
14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
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