In Ephesians 2:8 and Hebrews 4:6 Jesus is inviting us to life, to love, to forever, to forgiveness, and to God. From the Cross, He has opened the way for you to be at peace with God and with yourself. It is only when you are at peace with God that you find peace in yourself. The Cross and Jesus are inviting you to life. Max Lucado has a good analogy. Suppose you went to the White House uninvited, and you want to meet with the President to share a few concerns you have. You would discover that there are a lot of barriers and you don’t have access to the President. There will be no conversation. It is not going to happen, that is, unless he takes the initiative, unless he sees you and says to his secret service agents, “See that person over there? Go tell him I would like to speak with him.” If he spoke that command, all the barriers would drop, and the door to the Oval Office would be opened to you. Our sin creates a barrier between us and God and life and eternity and peace. But God took the initiative to break the barriers down. Jesus on the Cross took your sin and died for it. The Cross is God inviting you, “The door is wide open, come on in. Welcome to life, to eternity, to peace.” I can believe Jesus died on the Cross to save me, but until I kneel at the Cross and receive the body and blood of Jesus, I miss the benefits of the Cross. If I receive the broken body and shed blood of Jesus as a sacrifice of love for my sin, then I get healed, find peace, and find hope.
– Dr. Tim Thompson