The tree that was used to make the cross that Jesus was crucified on has nothing to do with your salvation. The image of the cross that so many of us wear today doesn’t do anything except remind us of the One Who died on the cross for our sins. Some people have many crosses in their homes but not one of them helps us to know Jesus as our Savior. Crosses only remind us of the death of Jesus the Christ Who took the world’s sins on Himself to pay the penalty for ALL of our sins so that we can come to Him and be saved from an eternity of destruction in hell. Your eternal body will not be destroyed in this but it will feel the pain and suffering for eternity because your body in eternity cannot die physically. But being in hell you are completely separated from God and His love for you.

The ground at the foot of the cross is level. No person will have any special treatment at the cross or at the judgement seat when each of us stands before Him. It will not matter how much fame or money you have or even how much you have done for the poor or for others who deserved your help. What will matter is that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and that you have followed Him daily. Some of us have tried to do this in our own strength and failed miserably at it. I did. But, when God’s Spirit finally showed me what I could not do on my own, then I gave my heart to Jesus completely. It didn’t happen on that one day of my decision. I had to read and pray and learn to be His because our hearts are attracted to the world around us. We don’t want to belong to Jesus. We want to do what makes us feel good.

By surrendering to Jesus you can become more like Him. It doesn’t happen immediately but it will happen when your heart is truly broken and you know deep down that you are doomed to hell if you don’t surrender to Him. Nobody wants to spend eternity away from God in hell, but that is where you will go if you don’t turn to Him and ask Him to take you in as an adopted child of God. He doesn’t want you to spend even one minute in hell but if you decide not to follow Jesus or you put your decision off for a while and something happens to you before you can make that decision, then you have sealed your eternity in hell.

God’s love for us is deeper than we can imagine because He is our Creator. He knows you more intimately than you know yourself but He still gives you the free will to choose to follow Jesus or not. Why would God do that? Because love and sacrifice cannot be forced they must be given freely. Forced sacrifice is not sacrifice. Forced “love” is not love at all. That is why the one verse in God’s Word that illustrates it so well is this:

John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Don’t turn away from God’s call in your life and in your heart. When you feel it, act on it in faith and believe in the One Who saves completely.