John 19 | What's the lesson for me today?

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
-Hebrews 4:1

The finished work of the cross of Christ has been a prominent theme showing up for me in recent weeks. It is exciting to continue reflecting on this reality.

I remember, as the hopeless romantic that I was, many shows and movies that went something along these lines. Guy meets girl. Girl likes guy. Guy is distant and torn and ends up somewhere else. Girl pursues. Guy eventually falls in love with girl. They share a romantic moment that is then concluded with this simple line, "You complete me." There is something the romantics have noted about the human character. There is something we lack. We are like puzzle pieces, unfulfilled when left in the box. But when we are joined together on all sides, we remain complete. The problem is they find that solution exclusively in mankind. The truth is that it is the Lord who completes us, and it is by the finished work of the cross of Christ that we are completed.

The declaration that Jesus gives just before giving up His spirit it a powerful one. "It is finished!" It can also mean, "It is completed!" The task that Jesus set out to do has reached its fulfillment. Once he has been laid down, there is only one final testimony that we look for to secure the power of His death and that is the power of the resurrection. But the obedience of Jesus to the point of death warranted the authority to overthrow everything else in our lives. John focuses on this reality even more in his first epistle.

5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
-1 John 5:5

We are not left to overcome the world on our own might or our own will. It is overcome by He who has overcome the world (Jn 16:33). Due to His death, we can join with Him, by faith believing on Him. He is our salvation. By His death, we may die, so that, by His resurrection, we may live. We have rest now. We must be all the more diligent to enter that rest since there remains a promise of it. We enter it by faith. Since it is entered by faith, I must ask myself the question: do I believe the cross completed the work? That we will entertain further in tomorrow's devotion.

What lesson are you taking away today?