It’s easy to read the account of the crucifixion and be touched, or really impressed that Jesus would suffer such agony on behalf of sinners. But when you meditate on Calvary, how personal do you make it?
I’d like to suggest specifically seeing your own sin nailed to the cross as you consider what Jesus did on that wonderful, horrible day. Rather than stopping at observing the sins of “the world” being paid for, zero in on your own life and your own heart. In this context, there is a healthy element to pausing to consider sins you have committed, not for the sake of feeling guilty, but to recognize and appreciate that Jesus bore those very sins in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24) so that you can now live without guilt.
If you are a Christian, Jesus didn’t just die for “the elect” or for “the body of Christ”; Jesus died for you. He took your sins, every last one of them, and paid the penalty they had incurred. This idea should be obvious, yet it is easy to inadvertently come to Good Friday and be blown away by God’s love for Christians, but somehow miss how personal His sacrifice really was. He had you in mind when He went to the cross.
“Not That You Died” by Belinda Smith and Tony Wood (sung by Legacy Five) does a beautiful job of summing up this idea:
