Charles Stanley (February 27, 2025) Daily Devotional: The Symbol of Supreme Love.
Have you ever fully considered what Jesus suffered for your sake?
John 10:17-18 - ``For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 ``No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."
Many of us display crosses in our home or wear them around our neck. But have you ever taken a moment to fully grasp the depth of love it represents?
The cross was arguably one of history’s most shameful and painful methods of execution. Crucifixion usually began with soldiers flogging the criminal with three leather cords, each containing a piece of embedded bone or metal that tore flesh to ribbons. The soldiers then hammered a long nail into the hands or wrists; another nail was driven through the ankles. Raising the cross, executioners would then drop it into a hole in the ground. In order to breathe, the convicted man had to push up on his bloody ankles.
Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully man. He experienced the full physical agony of this brutality and also felt emotional and spiritual anguish. Worst of all, when the Savior took our sin upon Himself, the Father turned His face, leaving the Son all alone in His suffering (Matthew 27:46 - About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ``ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, ``MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"; 2 Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him). Yet Jesus didn’t see Himself as a victim; He willingly offered His blood on our behalf and considered it a joy (Hebrews 12:2 - fixing our eyes on Jesus, 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). No greater love exists.
Consider all that Jesus endured on the cross for your sake and thank Him for His boundless love.
Bible in One Year: Deuteronomy 18-20
