The "wonderful" cross...?

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross

Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross

All who gather here by grace draw near and bless

Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were an offering far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

Wonderful Cross?  This idea seems so backwards,right…?  What could possibly be “wonderful” about our Lord dying a brutal and painful death on the cross? After hearing my Pastor, Kevin, touch on this last Sunday, I got curious.  So I dug a little deeper into the word "wonderful"

Some different meanings of the word that got my attention...

wonderful:  joyous and grave; beautiful and repulsive; surpassing human comprehension; causing amazement joined with terror; marvelously extraordinary

 ahhhh... Yes.  The cross is wonderful.   A place where Love meets sorrow. Where our brokenness was healed.   "His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls."- 1 Peter 2:24   

See friends, we were created to live abundantly!  That's why Jesus came... "I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." -John 10:10

So as we bow in awe at the foot of the cross...when we cry for the suffering Christ endured for US, we must remember-this is not just a sad movie with the best gory effects. This is OUR LORD dying.  FOR US.  All so we could live abundantly.  It can’t just move us to tears on Good Friday, cause us to celebrate on Sunday, and then just go about our “worldly life”on Monday…  it MUST change our hearts and guide the way we live!

Is what you’re living for worth Christ dying for?