It is Finished

I am reminded daily of my complete depravity in my inability to simply believe. For me it is the hardest thing to do, because it requires nothing of myself, but rather, everything of who or what I am believing in. By nature, I am such a doer. My consistent refusal to see that my doing has no power in itself represents my unbelief in Christ and that he already did everything. I continually want to have a part in my own salvation...

May He give me more and more belief in the reality of His finished work on the cross. He has given tastes of it to me. It is wonderful, and its implications are miraculous. In his book The Heart of the Cross, Senior minister of Tenth Church and President elect of Wheaton College Phil Ryken speaks about it in a simple way...

"Consider building a tower out of blocks for your favorite toddler. When she comes along to add a block to your architectural masterpiece, she will knock the whole thing over. The tower is complete just the way it is. For her to add to it would be to destroy it. The finished work of Jesus Christ is like that. To add to it is to disfigure it, mar it, and destroy it altogether. There is nothing you can contribute to the payment that Jesus made on the cross for sin. There is no penance you can undergo, no good work you can perform, no pilgrimage upon which you can embark, no punishment you can endure to clear your guilt before God. When Jesus said, "It is finished," he meant it. He meant that he had completely paid the price to release his people from their bondage to sin. So for you to try to pay for your own sins is to deny that Jesus really did finish paying for sin. For you to try to do something to earn your own salvation is to make Jesus Christ out to be a liar...But if you come and meet Jesus at the cross, you can be finished with the debt that you owe to God once and for all...If you do that, then Jesus' mission will be accomplished in your life, and what he said on the cross will be true about the price he paid for your sins: It is finished."