What does the CROSS mean to you?
C: Crucified brutally for our sins
R: Resurrected and fulfilled a promise
O: Oppressed and afflicted by men
S: Slaughtered as the perfect lamb
S: Satisfied God’s wrath for us

The only way God the Father could have me be his child was to send his one and only son to be crushed, beaten, tormented, tortured, persecuted and crucified.  That brings me to my knees.  We ought to realize the power, sacrifice and generosity of this massive gift.  God loved us that much- enough to send his ONLY son to be brutalized.

We should fight aggressively to remember and never forget the beautfy of the Cross of Calvary.  Jesus died a gruesome death so that we can have a hope of eternal life with our heavenly father.  We are princes and princesses of the king.  We are someone worth dying for.  An omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God, who has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, loves us immeasurably.  What a beautiful reality.  God loves us so much.  We have a loving redeemer who redeemed us from sin and death.

If we look at the book of Ruth, we see a pretty neat illustration of what it means by redeemer.  God orchestrated the book of Ruth to help us understand him better, and I’m thankful for that.   Boaz was a man of wealth and prestige and was somewhat in relation to Ruth.  Ruth is a young widow who purposed to follow and help her mother-in-law after they lost their husbands.  Ruth worked hard gleaning fields, and with God’s master plan, she ended up gleaning from Boaz’s field.  Ruth 4:1-10 shows us that Boaz begins to feel for Ruth but wants to do everything right.  He approaches a closer relative to Ruth and asks that man if he would like to have Ruth as his wife.  Remember now, Ruth comes with baggage; the legacy he would perpetuate by fathering Ruth’s son would belong to the name of Mahlon.  This was a way to be the kinsman redeemer – one who is a close relative and be willing to pay debth.  This was too much for this man, and so he decided he couldn’t (Ruth 4:6).  This is where Boaz comes in.  He chooses to redeem Ruth, and bought all of Elimelech’s land and took Ruth to be his wife.   By buying Ruth’s debt, Boaz redeemed Ruth, Naomi and the line of Elimelech. Boaz now shares his inheritance with his wife.  He paid the debt, took Ruth as his own and loved and cared for her.

This is a nice parallel to what Jesus did for us. We are sinful and in a sense gross deserving death as a penalty of our sin (Romans 3:23).  Yet, God paid the full price to buy us back and give us a new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17).  God sent his one and only Son to die for us.   Jesus humbled himself and paid our debt and thus redeemed us. He now shares his inheritance with us as He has adopted us to be his sons and daughters.

Our amazing God became man so that He can relate with us. He paid everything so that we can be a part of Him and His inheritance.  He sacrificed and loved unconditionally, despite our ugly past or dirty sins.  We should strive to look forward to His presense and share His truths with those around us.