“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:14–17.
The cross was never supposed to be beautiful.
In the world Jesus lived in, nobody wore a cross around their neck. Nobody placed one on the wall of their home. Nobody built churches beneath its shadow. The cross represented humiliation, suffering and death. It was something people looked away from.
And yet God took the very thing that represented death and transformed it into the greatest symbol of life the world has ever known.
That is worth remembering, particularly as Christians around the world approach Holy Cross Day on 14 September, a day traditionally set aside to remember and celebrate what Christ accomplished through the cross.
There is something deeply encouraging in that for those of us who carry parts of our lives we wish had never happened. We can look at our failures, disappointments, broken relationships, lost years and unanswered questions and assume that nothing worthwhile could possibly come from them.
But then we look at the cross.
God did not pretend the cross wasn’t painful. He didn’t call evil good or suffering pleasant. Instead, He demonstrated that suffering does not get the final word.
Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14, ESV). What looked like defeat would become victory. What looked like an ending would become the beginning of something entirely new.
Perhaps there are things in your own life that still look like endings.
A door that closed. A prayer that wasn’t answered the way you expected. A season you would never choose to repeat. A mistake you cannot undo.
The cross reminds us that we should be very careful about declaring the story finished while God is still writing it.
Sometimes redemption does not mean God removes the painful chapter. Sometimes He does something even more extraordinary. He takes what happened and refuses to allow it to be wasted.
The cross still looked like a cross on resurrection morning. But everything it meant had changed.
And perhaps that is what God is doing in you.
Prayer: Father, thank You that the cross reminds me that You are able to bring redemption from places that once looked hopeless. Help me trust You with the chapters of my life I do not understand. Teach me not to judge the ending while You are still writing the story. May the cross remind me that because of Jesus, suffering does not have the final word. Redemption does. In Jesus’ name, Amen.