pCould Jesus have opted out? Yes. He chose the suffocating cross. He made Himself deadweight, hanging by nails and broken bones. He knew that it was the right way, for you, but the choice He made was a real choice. The death He chose, He chose it so that what you’ve done wrong wouldn’t count against your relationship with God. Today, when we remember that Saturday, with Jesus in the grave, we’re remembering that it’s our sin He chose to die for. Jesus set His face like flint and went to the cross so that we could look on our Father’s face with joy. That’s something to be solemn about, yet deep-down grateful for.br /
You’ll have picked up that we’re talking about this as if it’s a relationship. The cross, Jesus’ life and death, are all bound up with our lives and what we’ve done with them. And they have real consequences for us, now.br /
So, can *we* opt out? Yes. Tim Keller, the New York church leader puts it like this: ‘As long as we think we are not that bad, the idea of grace will never change us.’ He’s saying that if we think we’re doing alright for ourselves, thanks, we’ll never get why Jesus died. The death of a man 2,000 years ago might make us a bit sad, but it’ll never change us, never set fire in our soul. /p
pWhat now?br /
Be honest about the wrong you’ve done. Visualise it dying in the grave today, part of all the sin that Jesus took with Him. Then, take a walk. Ask Him to show you a practical step to take away habits you still struggle with./p