I suppose it has always been the case, but it seems especially prevalent in our day. Many people love the message of Jesus (or at least what they think this message might be), they just don’t love the message of the cross. To put it another way, they simply can’t abide by the idea that a holy God requires payment for my sins and yours, and that Jesus provided this payment when he shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice. We long to love Jesus for who we want him to be, as opposed to loving him for who he was and is. I’ve been reading through Your Jesus is Too Safe by Jared Wilson, and I came across a passage yesterday that does a great job of capturing this idea:
The cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, which is a stinging indictment of so many self-appointed “Christian” spokespeople who have conveniently forgotten all about the cross. The cross is a foreign concept to the religious hucksters on television, and those in the pulpits and in publishing, who would ask you to take Jesus without taking his cross.
My friends, Jesus is not a pop song, snuggly sweater, affectionate boyfriend, a poster on your wall, self-help book, motivational speech, warm cup of coffee, ultimate fighting champion, knight in shining armor, or Robin to your Batman. He is blood.
And without blood, you die.
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