But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14, kjv
The late news on TV concluded with an interview with a prostitute who contended that her profession is necessary. Noticing a gold cross on a chain around the woman’s neck, the reporter asked, “Are you a religious person?”
“Oh, no! I’m not religious at all.”?“Well, why do you wear the cross?”?“I used to be religious when I was a kid, but I got away from all of that.”?Does a person ever go so far that he or she escapes the shadow of the cross??George MacLeod of Scotland wrote, “I simply argue that the cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town’s garbage heap; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek, at the kind of a place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died for. And that is what He died about.”
“An offense” and “foolishness” was the way Paul described it, saying that it violated our sense of public propriety. “For,” said Paul, “the message of the cross. . . to us who are being saved... is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
What Jesus did when He died at Calvary was to take your place, to die on your behalf so that you might be adopted into the family of God. Does that make sense, friend?
The cross is the very heart of what Christ did. It is still the answer to the sinner’s shame and the gulf that separates us from the presence of the Father. Yes, there is no other way home.
* * *
Used with permission from Guidelines International Ministries. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, send an e-mail to info@guidelines.org. You may also visit www.guidelines.org.