The Cross

Viewing my life in light of the cross I have found a few things to be irreversibly and absolutely true. One, I am a wicked, sinful depraved, wretched man. Two, Christ is glorious, beautiful, and passionately after my heart. There is no way, in light of the cross that a man can be prideful. If one truly understands the cross then they understand that it is an emblem of shame, wrath, and pain. There is nothing glorious about the cross, save the man who died upon it. By ascribing to believe in the cross of calvary, we admit that without Christ we are the most pitiful souls in the universe and deserve nothing except punishment and wrath for our own disobedience. 

However, through the beautiful and perfect work of Christ on the cross, we stand justified only through His atoning sacrifice. Thus, without Christ, we are still at enmity with God, alone in the world, and pitiable above all men. Therefore, there is no room for pride on the cross, only our shame. It is impossible to put into words the feeling that washes over me even as I type. The sense of disgust that I feel for my own soul, yet the sense of absolute warmth and love that I feel at the thoughts of the God of the Universe abasing himself for the glory of His name, in order that I may also share in His life through His death. 

How we Christians flippantly toss around the cross as if it were pretty. By making the cross pretty we have robbed if it of its absolute power and might. By providing the cross as a sexy escape from hell to the world we have prostituted the gospel and stripped the cross of its beauty. The cross holds it beauty in its rugged form and frame. The cross is hard and holds nothing, but death. Yet, a seed must first fall into the ground and die in order that life might be brought forth. Death must come for us. As was said by A.W. Tozer, a man of God to be admired, "There are only two responses to the cross. Either you die on it, or you run from it, there is no third option. And if we are foolish and futile enough to run from it, we rob it of all of its power and glory that it holds." The death that is imminent for all of us looms in the shadows. We all will die one day. Mel Gibson playing William Wallace, the great Scottish warrior in Braveheart, quotes " Every man dies, but few men truly live." I would add to that and say every man dies and without dying, one can never truly live. The cross is looming. It hangs as a reminder in the hearts of people all over the world every day of Christ's atoning sacrifice. 

The words of my God pace through my head "Anyone who will follow me must take up his cross, daily and follow me." In order to enter into discipleship with Christ, we must die to ourselves and continue to do so. Christ make sit evident to us all that the cross is not only for Him, but also for any follower that is called by His name. And so the cross stands in my thoughts and mind as a sobering reminder:

I am wicked, sinful, depraved and found wanting, yet Christ has paid for my trespasses and I stand justified. However, the question for me still remains. Christ has bore His cross for all of mankind, yet will I bear mine?