The Cross

Today in my car I was listening to the local christian radio station and this lady came on and said, "I just love it when people wear the cross around their neck. It's like they should be wearing a guillotine or a gas-chamber around their neck instead because the cross was the ultimate form of torture."

I was shocked. I guess I had never really thought about the actual meaning behind the cross. I mean I've always known that the cross was a mode of execution used by the Romans. It's just that since Christ died on the cross for us; we as christians have taken the cross and changed it's meaning to freedom and salvation through christ.

But what did the cross actually symbolize?

The gas-chamber comment really brought it home for me. I live in Texas where we send the most peolple out of any other state to the gas-chamber. It's the ultimate punishment for any crime. It's death. When you get sent to the gas-chamber, you have done something so haneous, so brutal, that we as society think we are better off with you dead.

We've all sinned. We've all committed haneous acts when we deliberately disobey God. We earn death. We earn the worst possible punishment. Yet Christ said, "No". He stepped in front of me and took my place in the gas-chamber. He payed my debt to God.

That's what the cross means. It's not just this structure in your churches sanctuary. It's not just this token on your necklace. The cross means we've been judged guilty, but Jesus payed it all for me.

That's my cross.