Two aspects of the cross of Christ - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Colossians 1:20; Galatians 6:14

Two aspects of the cross of Christ
First, it is the basis of our peace with God. Jesus sacrificed His life for us on the cross; He bore the punishment that our sins deserved. The cross is thus the foundation of our peace with God. There we see God as the One who "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16). God revealed Himself at the cross as the One who loves us and who is just. He condemns sin, but justifies the sinner who repents (cf. Romans 3:26). At the cross, God's grace meets us, sets us on our feet and saves us. It reconciles us with Him, makes us His children and places us in His presence. It fills us with gratitude and praise.
Secondly, it is the basis of our daily testimony. If the cross relates us to God, it also separates us morally from the world. "I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Like Him, we are then rejected by the world. The two things go together: if the cross comes between us and our sins, then it also comes between us and the world.
In the first case, the cross gives us peace with God; in the second it causes opposition with the world in which we are called upon to live and do good in imitation of Christ.
Let us hold fast these two aspects of the cross. Are we to accept the first and reject the second? At the cross, God invites us to enter into "the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Colossians 1:13), but also to abandon morally the world over which Satan rules.
Today's reading: Ezekiel ch. 5