Why do you wear a cross?

The cross...
We all know what they look like and they come in a variety of sizes and substance. You have the three-nail design, the giant wood crosses on necklaces, crosses to hang on your wall, crosses to hang on your ears, slap on your car, etc. You get the point. Catholics like the crosses that still have Jesus hanging there. It's a little tiny Jesus for their little tiny sins I guess... I digress.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine about crosses. He said "so do you have a Church that has, like, crosses everywhere?" I gave my signature look of confusion mixed with a little intrigue to signal him to explain what he meant. "You know, like some Churches have these huge crosses for everyone to gawk at".

Coming from an LDS background, I understood what he was getting at. I shared a few points with him as to why the image of the cross is important to us and I'd like to share those here. Before I do, let me clear the air that YES, I do understand that people, many times, treat the cross as either an image to wear like a good luck charm (violating Exodus 20:4), or equally bad, worn as a mere decorative fad.
Like this:

If a Mormon describes these frustrations to me, I have no argument. So really, the question Mormons want to know the answer to is why Christians feel justified in wearing an instrument of torture. Worse, an instrument of torture meant to refer to the day it was implemented on the Son of God. I've heard my LDS friends tell me how much they love Jesus, and the image of the cross only conveys sadness. "After all, why would we be happy thinking about our loved one suffering?"
It's actually a very understandable question. But before I can help you understand why the reminder of the cross is precious to Christians, I need to explain the distinguishing beliefs we hold.

The cross, no matter what you background, represents 1 of 2 things.
Either it represents tragedy or it represents victory. Plain and simple. If Jesus dying on the cross makes you sad, I have to say that the reason for that is that you don't really understand why he suffered there. Maybe you know the information, but you really don't believe you're worthy of such a sacrifice. Perhaps you don't think your sins are bad enough to deserve a punishment that severe. But bottom line, the Bible is clear that Jesus died on the cross as our holy lamb. He spilt his own blood to seal the New Covenant (covenant means cutting BTW). His blood is what cleanses our conscience (Heb. 10:22). Jesus said himself that there is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friend. In Rom 5 Paul says that one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though for a good person one would dare even to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us".

What Jesus did on the cross was exclusively for sinners; dirty, nasty, murderous, adulterous, lying, thieving, rebellious, drunken, perverted, tainted, hateful, spiteful, angry, raging sinners. That's what it took. You'll have to forgive us for lifting high and shouting for joy to our great God who displayed his love in the cross. If your loved one did something fantastic for you as a display of love, would you conceal it? No, when something is praise worthy it is lifted high!

The cross

The cross is a reminder of the love of God! You see blood and suffering, I see Jesus Christ  willing to bear the wrath of the Father in obedience to Him so that I could be saved. Every stroke of the whip, all the jeers of soldiers slapping his face, pressing a crown of thorns into his head and finally lead to hand naked in front of self-righteous men who taunted him even at his death... and his statement is "Father, forgive them they know not what they do". It says in Hebrews 12:2 that we ought to fix our eyes on him, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame. It was joy which led him there! He DESPISED the shame! This means that detested any ounce of shame that would creep into his conscious. He embraced the pain. He received the wrath as if he deserved all of it. Why? Because he was taking it from you. He was taking it from me.

We do not look to the cross as an image which can bring us fortune or as something cute to go with those jeans.
We look to the cross as a representation of every ounce of our hope. It is because the sinless savior died, that my sinful soul is free.

So, is it victory or tragedy? It's victory if you see the cross as the pinnacle moment of Jesus' awesome victory over sin. It's tragedy if the cross is only a display of how mean people can be.

You deserve what he got. He took it for you. Praise Him!