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 60^th birthday)