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God has a promised land for you to take. I sat across the table from a man in midlife misery. He described his life with words like stuck and rut and stalled. He’s a Christian, but he can’t tell you the last time he defeated a temptation or experienced an answered prayer. Twenty years into his faith he fights the same battles he was fighting the day he came to Christ. It’s as if the door to spiritual growth has a lock and everyone has a key but him.

Joshua 21:43 says, “So the Lord gave Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give…and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.” The Promised Land! God’s vision for your life. Yours for the taking. Expect to be challenged—the enemy won’t go down without a fight. But your glory days await you.

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God not only wants the mistakes we’ve made, he wants the ones we’re making. Are you drinking too much? Are you cheating at work or cheating at marriage? Mismanaging your life? Don’t pretend nothing’s wrong. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross. 1 John 1:9 promises, “If we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.”

So start with your bad moments. And while you’re there, give God your mad moments. There’s a story about a man bitten by a dog, and when he learned the dog had rabies he began a list. The doctor said, “There’s no need for you to make a will—you’ll be fine.” “Oh I’m not making a will,” he said. “I’m making a list of all the people I want to bite.” God wants that list. He wants you to leave it at the cross.

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It’s nice to be included. You aren’t always. Universities exclude you if you aren’t smart enough. Businesses exclude you if you aren’t qualified enough. And sadly, some churches exclude you if you aren’t good enough. But though they may exclude you, Christ includes you. When asked to describe the width of his love, he stretched one hand to the right and the other hand to the left and had them nailed in that position so you would know he died loving you.

Surely there has to be a limit to this love. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But David the adulterer never found it. Paul the murderer never found it. Peter the liar never found it. When it came to life, they hit bottom. But when it came to God’s love, they never did. How wide is God’s love? Wide enough for the whole world, and you’re included.

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The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. An odd choice, don’t you think? Strange that a tool of torture would come to embody a movement of hope. Its design could not be simpler. One beam horizontal, the other vertical. One reaches out, like God’s love. The other reaches up, as does God’s holiness. One represents the width of his love, the other the height of his holiness.

The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards. God treated his Son as a sinner so that Christ could make us acceptable to God. Why would he? John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world.” Aren’t you glad the verse doesn’t read For God so loved the rich? …the famous, the sober, or the successful? No, it simply reads For God so loved the world.

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My last name has created some awkward moments. A woman said, “Max Lu-KAH-do, I’ve been wanting to meet you.” I let it go, thinking that was the end of it. But as she introduced me to a number of her friends, I smiled and cringed, unable to maneuver my way into the conversation to correct her without being rude. But then I got caught. A man said to me, “My wife and I’ve been trying to figure out how you say your name. Is it Lu-KAY-doh or Lu-KAH-doh?” I looked over at my friend who had been mispronouncing my name — I was trapped. I answered, “Lu-KAH-doh, I pronounce the name Lu-KAH-doh,” I told her. May my ancestors forgive me.

How can God be both just and kind? How can he redeem the sinner without endorsing the sin? It’s called the Cross of Christ, and that’s one phrase you want to say correctly.

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Some people feel so saved that they never serve. Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of those sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done that you do nothing? The fact is, we’re here to glorify God in our service.

Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You’re worried there’s some secret card that exists with your score written on it and your score is not enough. Is that you? Then you need to know this: the blood of Jesus is enough to save you. John 1:29 announces that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” The blood of Christ doesn’t cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone your sins, or diminish your sins. It takes away your sins, once and for all. And since you are saved, you can serve with joy.

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Are a bride and groom ever more married than they are the first day? The vows are made, the certificate signed—could they be any more married than that? Imagine fifty years later. They finish each other’s sentences, order each other’s food. They even start looking alike, a thought which troubles my wife Denalyn deeply. Wouldn’t they be more married on their 50th anniversary than on their wedding day?

Marriage is both a done deal and a daily development. The same is true of our walk with God. Can you be more saved than you were the first day of your salvation? No, but can a person grow in salvation? Absolutely. Like marriage, it’s a done deal and a daily development. Be secure in your salvation. And, at the same time, grow in your salvation.

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Why did Jesus live on the earth as long as he did? To take on our sins is one thing. To experience death, yes. But to put up with the long roads, the long days? Why did he do it? Because he wants you to trust him. Even his final act on earth was intended to win your trust. Mark 15:22 says, “They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha where they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him.”

Why? Why did he endure all this suffering, all these feelings? Well because he knew you’d be weary, disturbed, and angry. He knew you’d be grief-stricken, and hungry, that you’d face pain. A pauper knows better than to beg from another pauper. He needs someone who’s stronger than he is. Jesus’ message from the cross is this: I am that person. Trust me.

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If you were told you were free to enter the Oval Office at the White House you’d shake your head and chuckle, “You’re one brick short of a load, buddy.” Multiply your disbelief by a thousand, and you’ll have an idea how a Jew would feel if someone told him he could enter the Holy of Holies—a part of the Temple no one could enter except the high priest, and then only one day a year. Why? Because the glory of God was present there.

God is holy, and we’re sinners, and there’s a distance between us. Like Job, we say, “If only there were a mediator who could bring us together.” 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ.” God welcomes you. He’s not avoiding you. The door is open. God invites you in.

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Scripture often describes our behavior as the clothes we wear. In 1 Peter 5:5, Peter urges us to be “clothed with humility.” David speaks of evil people who clothe themselves “with cursing.” Garments can symbolize character, and like his garment, Jesus’ character was seamless.

The character of Jesus was a seamless fabric woven from heaven to earth—from God’s thoughts to Jesus’ actions. From God’s tears to Jesus’ compassion. From God’s word to Jesus’ response. All one piece, a picture of the character of Jesus.

But when Christ was nailed to the cross, he took off his robe of seamless perfection and assumed a different wardrobe: the wardrobe of indignity. He wore our sin so we could wear his righteousness.

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Pride and shame. You’d never know they’re sisters. They appear so different. Pride puffs out her chest. Shame hangs her head. Pride boasts. Shame hides. Pride seeks to be seen. Shame seeks to be avoided. But don’t be fooled, the emotions have the same parentage. And the emotions have the same impact: they keep you from your Father.

Pride says, “You’re too good for him.” Shame says, “You’re too bad for him.” Pride drives you away, shame keeps you away. If pride is what goes before a fall, then shame is what keeps you from getting up after one. God, the sinless and selfless Father, loves us in our pride and shame. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”

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It would’ve been nice if God had let us order life like we order a meal. I’ll take good health and a high IQ. I’ll pass on the music skills, but give me a fast metabolism. Would’ve been nice, but it didn’t happen. When it came to your life on earth you weren’t given a voice or a vote. But when it comes to life after death you were. In my book that seems like a good deal. Wouldn’t you agree? Have we been given any greater privilege than that of choice?

You’ve made some bad choices in life, haven’t you? You’ve chosen the wrong friends, maybe the wrong career, even the wrong spouse. You look back and say, “If only—if only I could make up for those bad choices.” Well, you can. One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth. The choice is yours.

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God has penned a list of our faults. The list God has made, however, cannot be read. The words can’t be deciphered. The mistakes are covered; the sins are hidden. Those at the top are hidden by his hand; those down the list are covered by his blood. Your sins are blotted out by Jesus. The Bible says, “He has forgiven you all your sins: he has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 Phillips).

He knew the source of those sins was you. And since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without you, Jesus himself chose the nails. The hand is the hand of God. The nail is the nail of God. And as the hands of Jesus open for the nail, the doors of heaven open for you.

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How would you feel if a list of your weaknesses were posted so that everyone, including Christ himself, could see? Yes, Christ has chronicled your shortcomings. And yes, that list has been made public. But you’ve never seen it. Neither have I.

Come with me to the hill of Calvary. Watch as soldiers shove the carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it.

Couldn’t Jesus have stopped him? Why? Why didn’t Jesus resist? Through the eyes of Scripture we see what others missed but Jesus saw. Colossians 2:14 says, “He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross.”

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What is the fruit of sin? Step into the briar patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety. Haven’t our hearts been caught in these brambles? The heart of Jesus, however, had not. He had never been cut by the thorns of sin. Anxiety? He never worried. Guilt? He was never guilty. Fear? He never left the presence God. He never knew the fruits of sin until he became sin for us.

And when He did, He felt anxious, guilty, and alone. Can’t you hear the emotion in His prayer? “My God, my God, why have you rejected me?” These are not the words of a saint; this is the cry of a sinner. And these are words that we should say, but these are words we don’t have to say because Jesus said them for us. He took on the fruit of sin so that we could enjoy the fruit of eternal life.

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Can you live without sin for one day? No. How about one hour, can you do it? No. Nor can I. And if we can’t live without sin we have a problem. Proverbs 10:16 says we’re evil and “evil people are paid with punishment.” What can we do?

Observe what Jesus does with our filth—he carries it to the cross. God speaks to Isaiah in chapter 50, verse 6: “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” You see, mingled with his blood and sweat was the essence of our sin. Angels were a prayer away. Couldn’t they have taken the spittle away? They could have, but Jesus never commanded them to. The One whose chose the nails also chose the saliva. Why? The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.

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Much has been said about Jesus’ gift of the cross. But what of the other gifts? What of the nails, the crown of thorns, the garments taken by the soldiers? Have you taken time to open these gifts?

He didn’t have to give us these gifts, you know. The only required act for our salvation was the shedding of blood. Yet he did much more, so much more. Search the scene of the cross and what do you find? A wine-soaked sponge. A sign. Two crosses beside Christ. Divine gifts intended to stir that moment, that split second when your face will brighten, and your eyes will widen, and God will hear you whisper, “You did this for me?”

Dare we think such thoughts? Let’s unwrap these gifts of grace as if for the first time. Pause and listen. Perchance you will hear Him whisper, “I did it just for you.”

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Oh, the things we do to give gifts to those we love! Grownups in toy stores, dads in teen stores, wives in the tool department, and husbands in the purse department. We’re at our best in giving. Have you ever wondered why God gives so much? Really, we could exist on far less. He could have left the world flat and gray – we wouldn’t have known the difference. But He didn’t. He splashed orange in the sunrise and cast the sky in blue. If we give gifts to show our love, how much more would He?

In Matthew 7:11, Jesus asked, “If you sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask Him?” God’s love came not wrapped in paper, but in passion. Not covered with ribbons, but sprinkled with blood. The gift of the cross.

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Isn’t there a time or two when you went outside for a solution when you should have gone inward? Reminds me of the golfer who was about to hit his first shot on the first hole. He swung and missed the ball. Swung and whiffed again. Tried a third time, missed again. In frustration he judged, “Man, this is a tough golf course.” He may have been right, but the golf course wasn’t the problem.

You may be right, as well. Your circumstances may be challenging, but blaming them is not the solution. Nor is neglecting them. Consider the prayer of David. He said, “Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Real change is an inside job. You might alter things a day or two with money and systems, but the heart of the matter is, and always will be, the matter of the heart.

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Do-it-yourself Christianity isn’t much encouragement to the done-in and worn-out. “Try a little harder” is little encouragement for the abused. At some point we need more than good advice; we need help. Somewhere on this journey we realize that the fifty-fifty proposition is too little. We need help from the inside out. The kind of help Jesus promised. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But know him, because he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).

Note the dwelling place of God: in you. Not near us, above us. But in us. In the hidden recesses of our beings dwells not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God. Imagine that.

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