In today’s essay John Stott succinctly points out the struggle with the cross. Stott states simply that our human problem with Christ on the cross is our human pride. Stott gets at the heart with where our pride really comes in to play. It is not that we would deny our own sin, it is that we would deny that it required and received the sacrifice of God as atonement. From Stott’s own words,
“We cannot stand the humiliation of acknowledging our bankruptcy and allowing somebody else to pay for us. The notion that this somebody else should be God himself is just too much to take. We would rather perish than repent, rather lose ourselves than humble ourselves.”
A lot is said and made about our human tendency to categorize sin. It is Biblically true that different sins carry different consequences and it is also Biblically true that any and all sin separate us from God. What is overarchingly true is that Christ is the only remedy for any and all sin. I end with where Stott begins his essay, “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.”