Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

With the winds of Good Friday blowing through my thoughts today, my eyes are turned to the cross. The cross, that most brutal and shameful of death instruments, became beautiful and redeeming. It was there that our perfect savior literally became sin for us so that we might become children of God.

Sin is ugly, destructive, and leads to death. It is hard to think about and even harder to admit, but our sin separates us so far from a holy God that nothing we can do or say is powerful enough or pure enough to reconcile us to Him. Our best efforts to save ourselves fall much too short. We need someone to bridge the gap, someone who can bring us to God and speak on our behalf and plead our case. We need a Savior.

In sacrificing Himself on the cross for us, Jesus became our Redeemer. He became that good and perfect sacrifice which paid our sin debt and gave us another chance with God our Father. It doesn’t make sense, really. And I’m continually confused and amazed and almost unbelieving that He would do it for a sinner like me. And yet, in His great love, He walked the road to Calvary, struggling under the weight of the cross and the sin that He carried. And He gave His life to purchase mine.

He became the founder of my faith.

It is too good to imagine, and yet it is Truth. And what’s more, He didn’t leave it at that. He knew that in my weakness I would fall away. Though He gave His life for me, I would choose to let other idols slip into my focus. He knew that I would be just like Israel, following one day and turning away the next. I would vow my devotion to Him, but continually be caught up in the things of the world. He knew that He would have to sustain me.

He became the perfecter of my faith.

The absolute relief that comes from His sacrifice is that none of it is about me. My salvation comes from His work, and His alone. He reached out to me and made me His own when I could not and would not have come to Him on my own. And He does it again and again as I go through life.

My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand.