Throne Dwellers

Often I’ve heard the phrase, “Go to the cross.” It means to take the sin, the brokenness, whatever oppresses you to the cross but the key that people forget… is to leave it there. Christians have a habit of hanging out at the cross…hanging out in the past.
Yes, I refer to the cross as the past. Maybe not for those newly coming into the kingdom of God, but when they pray and ask Jesus into their lives and for forgiveness of sins, it is done. Period. We do not need to spend time there and “make sure it is at the cross or on the cross.” Jesus died to set us free and give us an amazing future.
I’m sorry but too many times I’ve seen God’s people use the cross as an excuse to stay where they are. Too many times I’ve seen God’s people (me included) return to the cross, pick up that sin or brokenness and place it back again. Do we have times in life when something plagues us and when there are things not easily let go of? Sure. Yet, we need to realize and remember that Jesus took the punishment at the cross and it was completed. For some the cross represents a place of punishment instead of freedom and so they stay there and repeat the past, punish themselves and so on and so forth. If you remember one thing…remember this: the cross is a place of forgiveness and letting go, a place of victory and moving on, not a dwelling place.
Colossians 1:20 says, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Colossians 2:14 says, “having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”
If the cross was a place meant to spend a lot of time at, Jesus would have stayed there longer, but He didn’t and so we shouldn’t either. Forgive yourself, forgive others, let the past go and run to your future. Stop letting the past keep you there…don’t let your future pass you by.
The cross was something Jesus took care of because He loved us and we desperately needed Him to, but it is finished and He has since been hanging out in the courts of Heaven, not standing at the cross. I have this image in my mind of us bringing our “stuff” to the cross and Jesus standing there saying, “Ok, now let it go and come with me. You are not meant to dwell here.”

Jesus isn’t at the cross…He is on His throne. He left the cross and never returned, so why do we? Our sins were taken care of that day; we were set free that day, so it’s a matter of living that out. I don’t know about you, but I want to be where Jesus is and He isn’t hanging out at the cross. Will you dwell in your past or run to your future? Will you be a squatter at the cross or a throne dweller?
Hebrews 12:1-21 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (emphasis my own)