914 - Cross Off 70
Friends: It’s my birthday week, the last week of school, Indianapolis 500 weekend coming up with family in town, Memorial Day, summer beckons … why not say something outrageous about the Cross of Christ? See the column below. Blessings, Bob
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Spirituality Column #914
May 21, 2024
Common
Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Cross
Off 70
By
Bob Walters
“The
days of our years are three-score years and ten ...” – Psalm 90:10
There
you have it. Psalm 90 says we will live
70 years. If I wake up Thursday morning, May 23, I will have proven the Bible
correct, celebrating the big Seven-O.
Psalm
90 goes on to say that strength may give us 80 years, but the whole of Psalm 90
is not about the glories of old age but the pitifulness of our overall lives. God’s been watching us, the psalmist –
believed to be Moses – says, and God is not impressed. Our days are “toil
and trouble,” Moses prays, “… and they are soon gone.”
Shortly
thereafter, he entreats of God, “…teach us to number our days so that we may
get a heart of wisdom” (90:14). God delivered that “heart of wisdom” fifteen
hundred years later in the living, human and divine person of His Son, Jesus
Christ.
Jesus
is our “heart of wisdom.” Living
a long life will not give us wisdom; not the kind of wisdom for which the
psalmist pleads: the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of man. It is one of a gazillion Old Testament
phrases that speaks directly to man’s only source of relationship with the
wisdom of God, and of God Himself: Jesus Christ.
The
Old Testament, throughout, sets us up to know and appreciate Christ.
The
New Testament reveals the new life and covenant in the wisdom of Christ.
James
1:5 says that if any of us lacks wisdom, to ask God for it, “…who gives
generously to all without reproach.” God gave us Jesus Christ so we would pursue wisdom
– in Christ – that transcends this life and bridges into eternity. And we
traverse that evil-to-good bridge by the grace of the person of Christ, who
actually is the bridge.
And
speaking of that bridge, as I wander ever closer to the next bridge from this
life to eternity, for my birthday I thought I’d say something true, but maybe outrageous.
Here
goes. Not long ago I was watching a
Bible expositor draw that familiar sketch of the Cross spanning a chasm between
the world and heaven, death and life, dark and light, evil and good.
Condemnation, fear, guilt, sin, lies, and hell on the left; salvation, love,
grace, forgiveness, truth, and the Kingdom of God on the right.
Let
me first say: “A wise man’s heart inclines to the right, but the heart of a
fool to the left.” says Ecclesiastes 10:2.
But that theological drawing of the left-to-right bridge over the chasm
to transcendent God? That bridge is not
the cross of Christ; that bridge is the person of Christ. Our
relationship with God – salvation – depends on Christ alone.
Somehow,
dependably, most of humanity loves the dark and hates the light, says Jesus (John
3:19). We go left when the Bible says go
right. Our hearts and deeds are evil, Jesus is saying. And we prefer they remain unknown, in the
dark, on the cross.
But
… we are not saved by the cross. We are not saved by the Bible. We are not saved by church. We are not saved
by baptism. We are saved by the person
of Jesus Christ: His love, His grace, His obedience, and the blood of His
covenant with God.
The
other stuff is important: the tools of our knowing. The cross is an
example. The Bible is our
guidebook. The church is His body.
Baptism is the gift of signing on to the promises of Jesus – heart, mind, body,
and soul. But salvation. O! … salvation.
Salvation
is a relationship with a real person, Jesus, and comes from no earthly relic, event,
idea, or deed. The supremacy and sufficiency of Christ is unchallenged
In
the Holy Spirit, we know that our salvation resides in Christ alone. Outrageous!
Walters
(rlwcom@aol.com)
knows his birthdate – “5-23-1954” – better now than at any previous time of his
life because of how often healthcare providers ask for it. Psalm 90, by the way, is considered the
oldest Psalm as the Jews wandered Sinai.
P.S. – I have written much about the Cross since beginning this weekly
column / blog in November 2006. Here are 12 on the Cross, in order, my blog
search button says are the best. Click on the number to see the column. #812
and #640
are my favorites (on PCs it's "control-click" on the link).
650 4-30-19 –
Life Beyond the Cross (Preparing for eternity)
651 5-7-19 – Living
at the Cross (The Cross is closer than we think)
652 5-14-19 – At
the Foot of the Cross (Jesus lives; how do we live?
812 6-5-22 –
Person to Person *** (The saving personhood of Jesus)
640 2-19-19 – Cross
Purposes *** (Purpose of the Cross)
692 2-17-20 –
Close Call (Church)
862 5-23-23 –
Just Like That (Lessons of the Cross, and last year’s birthday)
750 3-29-21 –
Father, Forgive Them (Jesus on the Cross)
663 7-30-19 –
For My Sake (Understanding the Cross)
287 5-15-12 – Sin
and God’s Saving’s Plan (My sins on the Cross)
527 12-20-16 –
The Cross, Christmas, and Freedom (Strength of the Cross)
393 5-25-14 –
Defining Moments (Importance of the Cross, and my 60th birthday)