About understanding the suffering of Christ…

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (NIV)

God desires you come to fully know and understand the suffering of Christ upon the cross. The cross is not just an emblem. The cross is not just a sign or a fixture we put on churches. The cross is the place where Christ surrendered up all of His love, all of His compassion, and His earthly life and power so you could be free for eternity. The cross is the place where we are to surrender our sins and mistakes up to God. The cross is a place where we are to take our suffering and our burdens and lay them down before Him. There is no big mystery about what Christ did when He died for you on the cross. There is no big unanswered question about why Christ died for you on the cross. There is no big unanswered question about why Christ died for you because what Christ did was a simple and pure expression of love just for you. We are not to just blankly stare at the cross as if the cross is merely a thing and has no meaning. We are to see the cross as the beginning of our eternal life if we are honest and true with God. If we are honest and true with God, we will admit our sins and mistakes. If we are honest and true with God, we can then turn away from our sins and mistakes and ask Christ to live in our heart. Christ suffered and died on the cross just for you because He loves you beyond measure. The cross is the place where God gave you the greatest sign of His love God could ever give. All other signs, all other words of wisdom, all other prophecies, all other truths become tiny in their importance when compared to the suffering Christ endured on the cross just for you.