Ultimately it was love that motivated God to send His Son to take my place. It was love that motivated Christ to lay down His life for me.
Good Friday invites us to slow down and really sit with the weight of the cross. The hymn What Wondrous Love Is This asks a question that never fully finds words: what kind of love would willingly suffer, sacrifice, and die so that others might live? Not sentimental love. Not convenient love. Sacrificial, costly, self-giving love.
Scripture reminds us just how intentional this love was.
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 ESV
Jesus was not forced into the cross. He chose it. He carried our sin, shame, and brokenness so that we could be forgiven, restored, and made new. The cross exposes the seriousness of sin, but even more powerfully, it reveals the depth of God’s mercy and grace. Love held Jesus there, not nails.
Good Friday can feel heavy, and it should. The cost of redemption was real. Yet even in the darkness of the cross, hope was already being born. God was accomplishing what humanity could never do for itself — making a way back to Him.
When I reflect on that kind of love, it humbles me. It challenges how I love others, how I forgive, how I extend grace, and how seriously I take the gift I’ve been given. Wondrous love does not leave us unchanged. It calls us to live differently, love boldly, and walk gratefully in the freedom Christ purchased.
Today, pause to remember the cross, not just with sorrow, but with deep gratitude. Love won. Redemption was secured. Hope was sealed.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for loving me enough to take my place on the cross. Help me never grow numb to the cost of Your sacrifice or the beauty of Your grace. Shape my heart to love as You love, forgive as You forgive, and live in thankful obedience. Amen.
What Wondrous Love is This? Performed by Fernando Ortega
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.
The Dee Zone 