Opinion column

It wasn’t so easy for God to pay the price

James Knight has been reflecting on the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross, and concludes that our response is the easy bit!

It’s really easy to know God and have a personal relationship with Him - but here’s the profound thing; it’s only easy for us because it was so hard for God – because He did all the hard work for us on the cross to make access to Him as easy as possible for us.
 
When the disciples enquired about what they should do to form a relationship with Christ, Peter replied with the most straightforward invitation: “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
 
That’s it. There is literally nothing more anyone needs to do than repent for the forgiveness of our sins - and if we do, we will receive the Holy Spirit and be in a relationship with God. It really is that easy.
 
But….to be clear, when I say ‘easy’, I mean the ease with which God has made Himself accessible for us. It might not be easy for everyone to repent, because that requires deep self-examination, humility, and courage. But make no mistake: it is only so easy for us because it was so hard for God on the cross, where He paid an immense price to give us effortless access to the gift of salvation.
 
And, of course, we see this pattern of sacrifice woven into the fabric of God’s creation. A simple pill can save millions of lives. But creating it requires years of research, time, financial cost, failed experiments, personal sacrifice, and even risk to the scientists. The simplicity of taking most medicine hides the depth of the effort and sacrifice behind it.
 
Crossing a bridge in our car is easy because the engineers spent years designing and building it. The crossing is easy because engineering experts bore the difficulty. A symphony usually means the composer endured sleepless nights, emotional turmoil, countless revisions, and deep inner struggles before the finished composition. Yet when it’s complete, anyone can sit in a concert hall and be moved within minutes.
 
Simplicity, functionality, and beauty become accessible because the creators bore the weight of creation - and that is what Christ did for us; paying the heaviest cost to give us the lightest burden and the freest access.
 
To me, it seems that the easier something is made for us, the harder it was for God. That is, the more emotionally challenging it is to comprehend the sacrifice on the cross, the harder it should be to resist entering into a relationship with Him. In fact, because it was so hard for God, it becomes almost impossible to fully understand the sacrifice and still reject a relationship with Him. That’s what I mean when I say it’s so easy for us to know God because the price paid was so hard for Him.

The image is courtesy of pixabay.com.

James Knight is a regular columnist for Christian community websites Network Norfolk and Network Ipswich. He also blogs regularly as The Philosophical Muser, including his Philosophical Muser You Tube channel, and contributes articles to UK think tanks The Adam Smith Institute and The Institute of Economic Affairs, as well as the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). 

The views carried here are those of the author, not necessarily those of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.