Everyone raised with any exposure to Christianity has heard that Jesus Christ died for mankind on the cross so our sins could be forgiven and we could have eternal life. For many, however, this wonderful truth is just a piece of religious trivia in their head.
But Jesus is more than a trivia question. He is not merely a famous man who appeared on earth for a little while, then passed on to the hereafter. Jesus was God-manifest-in-flesh — the eternal Son of God, who created the heavens and the earth, whose glory filled the throne room in heaven. (See John 1:3 and John 12:41).
This is stupendous. The eternal Son of God left the glories of heaven to come down to earth as a mortal man to die a mortal death on a Roman cross. Why would he forsake such privilege to embrace such hardship and dishonor, and such an ignominious end? For love. He loves you and wants you to enjoy the blessings of his love. But these blessings couldn’t be bestowed until sin was paid for. And only one payment could suffice — a blood atonement with infinite value. Jesus had to die. And he willingly did so.
How will you respond? He gave up his good things to face bad things down here for you. Will you let your bad things keep you from believing on Jesus and receiving his good things?