THE CROSS OF LOVE,
THE CROSS OF THE HEART
By Barri Cae Seif
Fixing our
eyes on Jesus, Yeshua, the Author and Perfecter of faith, who
for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
~ Hebrews 12:2 ~ |
Growing up
Jewish, the Cross meant nothing to me. I remember sitting in a church
service, honoring an invitation from a friend to come to her church. Looking
up and seeing that massive Cross did not move me at all. It was a decoration
on the wall and it was for THEM, not for me. I even shunned the Cross. It
was not until salvation that I realized that the Cross is God’s ultimate act
of love for US.
The Hebrew word for the Cross is Hah-Tzlahv. It has three Hebrew
consonants. The last two letters are a lamed and a vet. What
is of interest is that the lamed and the vet also spell lev,
the Hebrew word for "heart," and are also the consonants in the English word
"love." I cannot even think of the Hebrew word for the Cross
anymore without thinking that the last two letters in Hebrew mean "heart."
What love of God!
When God gives us the Cross, it is always done in love. It is a matter of
the heart. Our Father is glorified in our embrace of the Cross. God has His
holy nature; we have our human nature. He is perfect; we fail. The Cross is
His tool of love for us.
Heaven and earth intersected at Golgotha. It is at that intersection where
we find healing and reconciliation with God.
God required blood.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the
plague will not be upon you to destroy you… (Exodus 12:13).
Because God loves us so much, He provided this beautiful plan for us to be
reconciled to Him, through the death of His Son, Yeshua.
There is power that is attached to the Cross because God enables us to
endure that which He has called us to suffer. We are appointed to suffer. As
Paul noted, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your
sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the
church, in filling up which is lacking in Messiah's afflictions
(Colossians 1:24).
He allows us to endure suffering in the chastisement of the Cross. The Cross
is never easy, and that is just how God meant it to be. Yeshua Jesus, our
Savior, endured the Cross, putting up with the shame. Because prisoners were
crucified naked, it is assumed that Yeshua hung naked on the Cross. There
was always shame regarding the Cross. If one loses a job, one feels ashamed
that they could have prevented that dismissal. If one goes through a
divorce, one feels ashamed and searches the heart, wondering if they could
have done anything to prevent it. If one has a child who goes astray, one
feels ashamed that they did not do a better job of raising the child.
Joy is found in the embrace of the Cross. Hebrews 12 also tells us that for
the joy set before him, Jesus Yeshua endured the cross. When we know that we
are in the center of God's will, even when He has called us to suffer, that
is the most beautiful place that we could be. We find new courage when we
embrace the Cross.
Finally there is the love of the cross; the heart of the cross. It was for
us that Messiah Jesus laid down His life. He, in His perfectness, took on our
imperfectness. He, Divinity, took on our fallenness, all for love. He loves
you.
For the word of
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God.
~ 1 Corinthians 1:18 ~
When you were
dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us
all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of
debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us;
and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the
cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made
a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
~ Colossians 2:13-15 ~ |
Glory to the Lamb of God!
~
Barri Cae Seif holds a PhD
in Biblical Studies from
Trinity Theological Seminary. Other
devotionals by
Barri Cae may be found at
www.barricaeseif.com.
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