Devotional from Pastor Tim

Good Friday can sound like a contradiction. What is “good” about a day marked by brutality, bloodshed, and suffering? The cross was excruciating in every sense of the word—the very term comes from the idea of “out of the cross.” There was nothing pleasant about it. It was violent,unjust, and horrifying. And yet, Jesus endured it willingly.

So what makes this day good? It is not the pain itself. It is the purpose behind it.

On that cross, Jesus laid down His life, no one took it from Him. He stepped into our place and carried what we could never carry. He took on our sin, our guilt, our shame, and He dealt with it completely. He didn’t come to make forgiveness something you have to manage. He came to finish it.

This is why Good Friday is truly good. The sin debt that stood against you has been paid in full. Your separation from God has been removed. There is nothing left for you to earn, fix, or prove. Because ofJesus, your forgiveness is complete and your standing with God is secure.

And it gets even better.

The life that was laid down for you is now the life that lives in you. This weekend is not just about remembering something that happened 2,000 years ago, it’s about realizing what is true of you today. Resurrection is not only a future promise; it is a present reality. You are not waiting for life. You already have it in Christ.

So today, we celebrate. Not because suffering is good, but because redemption is. A good God did what you could never do for yourself. He gave up His life so that you could have His life.

And that changes everything

Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.