I resolved to know
nothing among you except Christ, and Him crucified.
If I’m honest with you, I’m still learning to love
the cross. I understand that it is the holy center and the whole hope of
life in Jesus–but I struggle to see it as beautiful. Resurrection, I
love. Jesus feeding the hungry, blessing the children, casting out
demons, forgiving sinners, walking on water, healing the sick, raising the
dead: love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
But the cross is not easy to love–and yet
scripture says what is on display on the cross is not the sinfulness of people
or the wrath of God or the ruthless inevitability of suffering and death.
The witness of scripture is that on the cross (and only on the cross) we see
the glory of God. How can this be?
Even in the earliest days, there was a great
danger that the church would be infiltrated by the values and lies of the
culture. That people who claim to be worshipping Jesus, when really they
were worshipping the false gods of violence, wealth, nation and
power. From the very beginning, there was the danger that people would
misunderstand who Jesus was and the nature of his kingdom. Which is why
Paul, earliest and most prolific church planter, had to begin reforming his
churches even as he formed them. He knew the best way to make sure that
people put their hope and faith in Jesus was not simply to focus on Jesus–but
to focus on ‘him crucified.’
The cross is the key to everything. Until we
learn to see it truly (and unlearn some of the horrific blasphemous popular
theologies), we will not know Jesus.
That first love we are chasing in this season–we
first see it on the cross.
I hope you will join me as we consider the cross
and the beauty of God’s love it reveals to us.
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