The Cross is an Invitation

When you see images of the cross what do you think about?  It is and has always been a reminder of how Jesus died for you and me. It’s a symbol of sacrifice and love.

Today, when  I look at the cross, I see more than a symbol, I see the cross as an invitation.

When you’re invited to a special event, you are often sent an elegant invitation because someone has deemed you as important to attend this event. Whether that invitation comes by mail or email, it includes a part where you take an action to RSVP…yes or no.

When Jesus died on the cross, it was to fulfill the purpose of saving us from our sins. And through His death, there has been an invitation to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

He has sent this personal invitation to each and every one of us but it is our job to take the next action, which will guide the rest of our lives.

The invitation allows us to be an ambassador of Christ. It’s an invitation to put on our new self and begin to walk in what he has planned for us. I can’t imagine how He felt being nailed to the cross and people chanting awful words against Him. Others stood around wanting him to prove his identity to them and take Himself off the cross.

I believe Jesus could have very well taken Himself down.  We know that He experienced treacherous pain because He cried out to God through all of this. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). But yet He endured it all. And He did it for you and me.

If you allow yourself to grasp the severity of His death, I mean truly, visualize how and why He did it, I believe it will help you to see how special you are to Him. God loved you so much that He gave His only son for us to have eternal life (John 3:16).

If He would have taken himself down, it would have just been to appease man and not fulfill God’s plan. This makes me wonder how many times have we done this in our own lives? We know what we should be doing but because we want to be like the majority, we stop doing God’s will to appease others and forget about our intended purpose. But when we drift, we don’t fulfill His plan. His perfect plan.

I’m so honored that Jesus endured and fulfilled His purpose for us to have all that He invites us into.

With an invitation, you get to make the next decision. If you check yes, you have the opportunity to experience something great. You have the opportunity to sit at the table with the other special guests who took the time to be present and at the moment for this special event.  And who is more special than our Lord and Savior? Who would ever endure all of that for us? And who extends the invitation time and time again no matter how many times we fall?

I can recall many instances in life, where I circled yes and no.

“Yes, Lord you can have this part of my life but I still want to control this other half.”

He is waiting for us to accept His invitation and truly live in all that He has provided. Not the yes and no response but fully saying yes to Him. He wants us to know that He has already carried our burdens and died so that we may live.

The Message translation says, ” I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”-John 10:10.

This, my friend, is what I desire for you; “real and eternal life…a better life than you ever dreamed.”

Jesus has sent you a personal invitation. How will you RSVP?