True Cross Relics

If you go onto Ebay, you can find several people selling what they claim to be authentic pieces of the cross of Jesus - what they call "true cross relics." The relics tend to be splinters or slivers of wood, often accompanied by a document purporting to attest to their authenticity. Some of these supposedly true cross relics are going for close to US$3,000.00 on Ebay.

I don't own a true cross relic. I'm really not even sure how you could ever fully authenticate any of the slivers of wood that are being auctioned off. But I do have a wood chip that I once received after a teaching about the crucifixion of Jesus. It's just a wood chip, something that you could buy at any garden center. However, it symbolizes the sacrifice that Jesus made for you and for me when he was nailed to the cross on that "Good" Friday some 2,000 years ago, in order to give you and me and the rest of this screwed-up, sin-stained world the hope and promise of salvation and eternal life.

As I look at this wood chip, and as I think about the sacrifice that Jesus made on that "Good" Friday some 2,000 years ago, suddenly a thought comes over me:

Yes, I do have a true cross relic.

It is me.

I am a true cross relic.

So are you.

So is every person that believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

My dusty old Webster's Dictionary defines a relic as "an object esteemed and venerated because of association with a saint or martyr."

Jesus' love and esteem for us, combined with His crucifixion and resurrection, allows us to "associate" with Him when we trust Him as Lord and Savior. And that "association" leads to eternal life with Him in heaven.

I am a true cross relic.

So are you.

There's nothing more I'd rather be.