Settle in

Take a deep breath. Turn off notifications on your phone. Ask God to help you understand what Jesus’s death on the cross means for you personally and how it can change your life.

Thought starter

The Bible tells us the powerful story of Jesus sacrificing his life by dying on the cross so that our sins would be forgiven and wiped away. You can learn more about the story of the cross here.

The cross is the ultimate sign of God’s love for us. It’s personal and powerful; it’s how we experience joy, peace, and purpose.

Here’s what we’ll learn in this Quick Quiet Time:

• The cross is a bridge that connects us to God. 
• The cross makes it possible for us to live a full life, protecting us from darkness and emptiness.
• The cross transforms us and empowers us to help other people.

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God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.

John 3:16 NCV

Look, the LORD’s power is enough to save you. He can hear you when you ask him for help. [2] It is your sins that separate you from your God …

Isaiah 59:1-2 ERV

Truth bomb:

The cross isn’t a symbol. It’s a bridge across a canyon of sin that separates us from God.

• Imagine being separated from someone you love by a massive canyon. That’s how God feels about each of us. Our sins separate us from God—that’s what creates the canyon.
• When he sent Jesus to take our sins on the cross, he built a bridge to connect us back to him.

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The law says we are under a curse for not always obeying it. But Christ took away that curse. He changed places with us and put himself under that curse.

Galatians 3:13 ERV

Christ carried the burden of our sins… By his cuts and bruises you are healed.

1 Peter 2:24 CEV

Lightbulb moment:

We’ve all messed up. Sin is a curse we can’t fix on our own. But Jesus stepped in and changed places with us so we could be free.

• Jesus carried our burdens, our sins, and our guilt. 
• He absorbed the penalty we deserved so we could be free and healed. 
• The importance of the cross can be hard for us to grasp, so let’s look at some metaphors.

📦 The heavy weight metaphor

Imagine needing to carry a heavy load up many flights of stairs, and you can’t even get it off the ground. Then someone comes along, takes it off your shoulders, and carries it for you. That’s what Jesus did. That’s freedom.

🚣 The lifeboat metaphor

Imagine you’re in a sinking boat in the middle of the ocean. No matter how hard you paddle, you can’t save yourself. Jesus is the lifeboat that pulls you out.

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I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore-it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.

Galatians 2:20 NCV

Although he was weak when he was nailed to the cross, he now lives by the power of God. We are weak, just as Christ was. But you will see that we will live by the power of God, just as Christ does.

2 Corinthians 13:4 CEV

And through Christ, God has brought all things back to himself again-things on earth and things in heaven. God made peace through the blood of Christ’s death on the cross. [22] But now God has made you his friends again. He did this through Christ’s death in the body so that he might bring you into God’s presence as people who are holy, with no wrong, and with nothing of which God can judge you guilty.

Colossians 1:20,22 NCV

Truth bomb:

The cross doesn’t just forgive. It transforms.

• Jesus’s death and resurrection made God’s power available to each of us personally.
• Just as Jesus gave up his life on the cross, we can give up our old selves and let God create a new person inside of us.
• Because of the cross, our old self can disappear. God gives us a new self. Jesus lives in us, giving us strength, purpose, and a new identity.

🪫The low battery metaphor

Trying to live without Jesus is like running on 1% battery. The cross plugs us into God’s unlimited power.

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The message of the cross seems foolish to those who are lost… But it is God’s power to us who are being saved.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIrV

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

Galatians 5:24 NLT

…The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging. Through the cross of Jesus my world was crucified, and I died to the world.

Galatians 6:14 NCV

Truth bomb:

When we truly understand the cross, we have to make a choice.

• Will you see the cross as foolish—or as the power of God?
• Choosing the cross means dying to the world and living for something eternal.

↗️ The fork in the road metaphor

Imagine coming to a fork in the road. One path is flashy but ends in emptiness. The other is narrow but leads to life. The cross is the signpost pointing you in the right direction.

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This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins. [11] Dear friends, if God loved us that much we also should love each other.

1 John 4:10-11 NCV

All this is from God. He brought us back to himself through Christ’s death on the cross. And he has given us the task of bringing others back to him through Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:18 NIrV

Truth bomb:

The “full life” Jesus gives us is not a self-centered life.

• Through the cross, God’s love doesn’t just fill us—it overflows through us.
• We’re not only saved but also sent. We’re called to share the full life we’ve found.

⛲The overflowing fountain metaphor

When you live close to Jesus, your life becomes a fountain that spills over into others.

Bring the inspiration with you!

Save this phone wallpaper to remind you of the love and power of the cross!