Why the Cross

The basic meaning of the word holy is “separate,” and when used of God it means, among other things, that He is eternally separate from any degree of sin. He does not sin Himself and He cannot abide or condone sin in His moral creatures.

We seldom think about the words of Jesus that the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”… And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39)

Bridges asks, "Have you ever thought about what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind?"I don’t think any of us can fully plumb the depths of that commandment, but here are some obvious aspects that Bridges gives us:

• Your love for God transcends all other desires
• Like David, you long to gaze upon His beauty and seek fellowship with Him
• You rejoice in meditating on His Word, and like Jesus you rise early to pray
• You always delight to do His will, regardless of how difficult it may be
• A regard for His glory governs and motivates everything you do - your eating and drinking, your working and playing, your buying and selling, your reading and speaking, *even our driving
• You are never discouraged or frustrated by adverse circumstances because you are confident God is working all things together for your good.
• You recognize His sovereignty in every event of your life and consequently receive both success and failure from His hand
• You are always content because you know He will never leave you or forsake you
• The first petition in the Lord's Prayer, "hallowed be your name", is the most important prayer you pray
  

Bridges gives an example of a man who told him that he had an affair. He knew what that meant however, he wanted the man to tell him that he had committed adultery. We need to call sin what the Bible calls it and not soften it with modern expressions borrowed from our culture. If we limit our attention to single sins, to the neglect of our sinful nature, we will never discover how deeply infected with sin we really are.