{"id":9942,"date":"2019-04-20T05:18:39","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T10:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=9942"},"modified":"2019-04-20T05:18:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-20T10:18:47","slug":"holy-saturday-the-cross-makes-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=9942","title":{"rendered":"Holy Saturday — the Cross Makes the Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Today is the in-between day of our Savior\u2019s agony on the cross — one of the cruelest methods of execution ever practiced, slowly dying in despicable humiliation, His dead body placed in a tomb \u2013 sealed and done! But, then comes tomorrow — the day when all HELL had to break loose of what it thought was its captive \u2013 RESURRECTION Sunday! I hear God saying to us \u201cHold on, My Children \u2013 JOY COMES IN THE MORNING!\u201d

But this day, I\u2019m still fixed on what happened yesterday \u2013 more specifically, fixed on the \u201cOld Rugged Cross \u2013 the emblem of suffering and shame\u201d. Perhaps it\u2019s because of this photo that I\u2019ve seen many times in my social media feeds. It is a photo of Notre Dame Cathedral\u2019s cross that remained unscathed after the horrific fire. The \u201cCross of Jesus\u201d is what represents our Savior\u2019s great love for us.

The cross! What once represented an inhumane, torturous death sentence, now is a symbol of love. That\u2019s why you rarely see me not wearing one of my precious cross pendants or cross earrings or a bracelet that dangles a cross. The cross is my \u201cstatute of liberty\u201d as one old song proclaims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While I cherish my \u201cjewelry\u201d crosses as expressions and symbols of my faith, I\u2019m not quite sure I like the cross Jesus referred to here: \u201cThen Jesus said to His disciples, \u2018If anyone desires to be My disciple, let them deny themselves\u2026and take up their cross.\u201d Matthew 16:24. When I hear the words, \u201cTake up your cross”, I know He means daily suffering, opposition, humility, dying to self, staying silent when that\u2019s the last thing I want to do, being a servant to others, and carrying burdens that are often too heavy to bear. But, I know without the cross, there are no crown wearers in heaven.
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The fact is we all must carry our own crosses in this life. Doesn\u2019t sound like a ticket to Disneyland, does it? But, oh, it is so much better. It is a ticket to joy and peace, faith and hope and eternity with He Who paid the ultimate price for my salvation. What God offers is the promise that He is with us in our suffering; that He can bring good out of it and that one day He will put a stop to it and redeem it. The cross is not only God\u2019s way of saying we are not alone in our suffering, but also that God has entered into our suffering through his own suffering.

Last night at our Good Friday service, my Pastor said, “The cross reminds us we have a high priest who sympathizes with our sufferings and was tested in every way we have been. The One who provides us strength is the same One who shares His victory with us. When He rises from the grave — so do we!” None of us are without crosses to bear, but all of us have the opportunity to know the Savior Who promises us a FOREVER with Him. It\u2019s not Disneyland, but FOREVER-Land. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, Resurrection morning and the ultimate tomorrow….when I see my Savior and my God, face to face. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the in-between day of our Savior\u2019s agony on the cross — one of the cruelest methods of execution ever practiced, slowly dying in despicable humiliation, His dead body placed in a tomb \u2013 sealed and done! But, then comes tomorrow — the day when all HELL had to break loose of what it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12635,12850,12881],"tags":[12875,1417,12879,12874,12876,3308,12873,12880,12878,877,4221,12877,1700,7518,5572],"class_list":["post-9942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cross","category-easter","category-resurrection","tag-agony","tag-cross","tag-death-sentence","tag-execution","tag-hell-broke-loose","tag-holy-saturday","tag-humiliation","tag-matthew-1624","tag-old-rugged-cross","tag-resurrection","tag-savior","tag-shame","tag-statute-of-liberty","tag-suffering","tag-tomb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9942"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9951,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9942\/revisions\/9951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}