“See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?” (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” Isaac Watts).
Sin is such a commonplace element of the world in which we live that it’s easy to take it for granted. We see it in the world in general and in society. How sad the way people treat one another! It’s something we can experience in our own families, and we see the effects of it in ruined lives of people we dearly love. We also know what it can do in our own lives, in how we can struggle against yielding to the demands it makes in our own lives and the frustrations it brings to our efforts to live faithful and godly lives in Christ. We agree with Paul, who said of himself, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:22-24 NKJV).
So, how do we break out of the bondage to sin to live in the light of God’s will, to know fully His love for us and the beauty of life in Christ? Paul went on to say, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). How do we find God’s grace and mercy to overcome sin, when sin returns so many times to tempt us, to trap us, to destroy us? Perhaps, we need a renewed perspective of what God in Christ has done for us, to drive us to our knees and to realize just how ugly and vicious sin is to our lives.
Isaac Watts’ words above, at least for me, tap into a realization of the depth of God’s love, of the pain and suffering Christ endured in the flesh for us. It should cause us to take a deeper look at what the cross means to us. We’ve become so familiar with the story of the cross, it’s easy to forget what happened there for us. The eternal Son of God had to become flesh and blood on our behalf (Luke 1:31). Not only that, but He had to be tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Showing Himself to be the spotless, sinless Lamb of God, He suffered the shame of the cross, the torture of the pain of the cross, the separation from the Father on the cross and poured out His blood for our atonement from sin (Hebrews 12:2). The cross had nothing to do with any failings of the Son of God, but rather our failings – our sins (1 Peter 1:18-20)!
Maybe sin wouldn’t be quite as appealing to us if we would, through our mind’s eye, go back to the cross and focus on all Christ endured to die for us there. He did it freely for our sake, but what a price He paid! See, from His head, His hands, His feet, that sorrow and love flow mingled down for us through His spilt blood. Satan doesn’t love us, but he uses sin to destroy us. Where else does sorrow and love come together than in Christ being pierced in death, that His blood can cleanse us of our sins? What greater crown could be worn than that which was mockingly placed upon Him, which, however, truly revealed Him as our Lord and Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords?
When you are tempted with sin, just step back and remember the perspective of the cross. Satan is a liar, a deceiver and a destroyer. Christ is deity become flesh who reveals truth to us. His love is genuine, observable by His offering of life, salvation and eternity for us. Does that image not touch your heart? Can it not renew your resolve for holy living in Him? Will it not motivate one to find life and eternity in such an image? Go back to the cross. No, it isn’t a pleasant image to consider or about which to read, but it is the depth of God’s love revealed. It will humble and break our hearts. It will draw us out of sin to a better, nobler, unending resolve to honor the love revealed there. Let’s go to Calvary and look upon the Christ, dying for us to have life. Make it a daily part of your routine. What a difference it can make in our lives. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
