The Way of the Cross

[i]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. Gal.6:14

They were living to themselves; self with its hopes and promises and dreams still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and had surrendered for it to be given them at any cost, and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling anguish; they had asked to be meek, and He had broken their hearts; they had asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all their living hopes; they had asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by "as a refiner and purfier of silver,' until they should reflect His image; they had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to them it lacerated their hands.

They had asked they knew not what, nor how, but He had taken them at their word, and granted them all thier petitions. They were hardly willing to follow Him so far, or to draw so nigh to Him. They had upon them an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought that they had seen a spirit, and knew not that it was Jesus. They could almost pray Him to depart from them , or to hide His awfulness. They found it easier to obey than to suffer, to do than to give up, to bear the cross than to hang upon it. But they cannot go back, for they have come too near the unseen cross, and its virtues have pierced too deeply within them. He is fulfilling to them His promise, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32)

But now at last their turn has come. Before, they had only heard of the mystery, but now they feel it. He has fastened on them His look of love, as He did on Mary and Peter, and they can but choose to follow.

Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams, the mystery of His cross shines out upon them. they behold Him lifted up, they gaze on the glory which rays from the wounds of His holy passion; and as they gaze they advance, and are changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through them, for He dwells in them. They live alone with Him above, an unspeakable fellowship; willing to lack what others own (and what they might have had), and to be unlike all, so they are only like Him.

Such, are they in all ages, "who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth."

Had they chosen for themselves, or their friends chosen for them, they would have chosen otherwise. They would have been brighter here, but less glorious in His Kingdom. They would have had Lot's portion, not Abraham's. If they had halted anywhere-if God had taken off His hand and let them stray back-what would they not have lost? What forfeits in His resurrection?

But He stayed them up, even against themselves. Many a time their foot had will nigh slipped; but He in mercy held them up. Now, even in this life, they know that all He did was done well. It was good to suffer here, that they might reign herafter; to bear the cross below, for they shall wear the crown above; and that not thier will but His was done on them and in them. -- Anonymous.[/i]

From Streams in the Desert for today, October 17.
Mrs. Chas E. Cowman

[i]Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, but as a Lamb, without blemish and without spot...[/i] 1 Peter 1:18,19

It's hard to imagine, that my sinful, ignorant, rebellious soul was purchased with such a price! Though hard to comprehend that the soul of a human being is of such worth to God; harder yet is the realization that some ignore the price that was paid for their opportunity for salvation and continue on in the sin and rebellion.

Since we all were bought with a price, would it not be wisdom to live as a purchased possession? Would it not be wisdom to value the souls of others with such in mind?
Would it not be of great inspiration to recognize that right now the Holy Spirit is orchastrating some moment for you, for your neighbor, for your relations, for the poor soul on the street corner to have realization that this brief life is minuscule compared to eternity; and that regardless of your ridiculous state of being the Holy Lord of Glory, the King of heaven, the Christ of God, this spotless Lamb paid for your salvation with His own precious blood.

And that it is this purchase price that every man both small and great will give an accounting to God for their response, or lack thereof.

[i]...whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.[/i] Rev. 13:8

Amen! great post.

[i]For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
He had no form nor comeliness;
and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Is 53: 2,3

And He saith unto them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, unto death...’ Mark 13:34

...Then said the lord of the vineyard, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son..’
...But when the husbandmen saw him they reasoned among themselves...
‘come, let us kill him...’
So they cast him out of they vineyard, and killed him.
What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard to unto them?
He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others...
Luke 20: 13-16[/i]

We all, as humans believe in "fairness" in one way or another; our humanity believes that if we do well, others will appreciate our well doing and treat us “fairly”.

Most of us, in the human realm, become incensed at the injustice of one human being towards others, especially those deemed “innocent”. Somewhat as David did when the prophet came and told him the story of the man who had much in goods and livestock; yet stole the beloved pet lamb from the neighbor to feed a visitor; ‘Surely, that man should die!!’, David proclaimed.

Nathan, knowing the heart of the God, even towards this heavenly appointed king must have shuddered when he looked at David and told him: ‘Thou art the man’.

How blessed indeed it is when once we come to the realization that the Holy Spirit would look us in the heart, lean towards us with great anticipation and inform us: 'Thou art the man.' Thou art the reason that Christ had to hang upon a cruel cross, it was for each of us personally that He was scourged, and crowned with thorns, and men stood at His feet while He suffered there, and taunted Him.

There is no human alive that Christ did not suffer and die for; that He did not bear thier load, their griefs, their sorrows and the sorrows of every sin caused grief in this life; their sin, not another whom they may just point to, but theirs, mine, yours, ours. There is NOT one person that He did not recieve stripes on His back that they might have peace.

[i]But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:

For hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example, that ye should follow in His steps;
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth;
who when He was reviled, reviled not again;
when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.
Who His own self bare our sins
in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed.
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and [/i](overseer) [i]Bishop of your souls. 1 Peter 2:21-25[/i]

Our own human mind may never be able to fully comprehend the intensive detail at which the death and resurrection of Christ took place:
God’s exact detail in every step towards Jerusalem, the anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal of Judas, the few words spoken to Pilate and the guilt of Herod’s association. The beatings, the mockings, the hatred towards what is good spewed out with vile force, the crown of thorns placed on the Christ with a purple robe draped over Him to the presentation from Pilate ‘Behold the Man’.

Every detail of the journey to the cross fulfilled a prophecy, pronounced an encompassing demonstration from God towards humanity: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’, ‘It is Finished’, and the other expressions of Christ on the cross- not the least of which “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Every grief Christ endured held within it the satisfaction of the price paid for humanity- the satisfaction of the holy judgment of God on a sinful, rebellious people-the satisfaction of thousands of prophets looking down into the annuls of time proclaiming the salvation of the Lord- the satisfaction of the law of sin and death that we might have the ability to walk in the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus-the satisfaction of every type, every shadow within the tabernacle from priest to Lamb, from laver to the Holy of Holies, every one touched, placed, and anointed by the hand of God in this the culmination of this sacrifice, this life, this momentous focus of the aeons.

Now this [i]example that we should follow in His steps[/i] has prepared for us this way, a road of renouncing our mortal desires for “fairness”; for personal justification for our own thoughts and deeds; the attitudes of superiority that strengthen the mindset that there are favorites in the kingdom of God and somehow we must be one...
(when really there is One Favorite, one Beloved and the Bride which unites the Body of the Beloved in one hope for the future: [i]...for they are all Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them...[/i]

Oh, how the way of the cross pierces into the innermost thoughts!
How it penetrates into the hidden chambers of the heart!
How boldly the Holy Spirit (the governor within those hidden places who holds up the standard of Christ and the [i]law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus[/i] within the Kingdom of God) charges in to the inner-sanctum of our own ways and shines the light of Christ on them and expects an answer for our selfish, self-styled, self exalting, deceptive practices. Not only does He patiently wait while we recognize the enemy of humility and wisdom- but He hands us the sword, a sharp two edged sword, and expects us to slay these things that would hinder our pathway to glorifying Christ and becoming more like Him day by day.

[i]But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:

For hereunto were ye called:
because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example, that ye should follow in His steps;
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth;
who when He was reviled, reviled not again;
when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.
Who His own self bare our sins
in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness,
by whose stripes ye were healed.
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and [/i](overseer) [i]Bishop of your souls. 1 Peter 2:21-25[/i]

Our own human mind may never be able to fully comprehend the intensive detail at which the death and resurrection of Christ took place:
God’s exact detail in every step towards Jerusalem, the anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal of Judas, the few words spoken to Pilate and the guilt of Herod’s association. The beatings, the mocking, the hatred towards what is good spewed out with vile force, the crown of thorns placed on the Christ with a purple robe draped over Him to the presentation from Pilate: ‘Behold the Man’.

(Stop for a moment and consider, ponder, and think about that presentation.)

Every detail of the journey to the cross fulfilled a prophecy, pronounced an encompassing demonstration from God towards humanity: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.’, ‘It is Finished’, as well as the other expressions of Christ on the cross- not the least of which “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Every grief Christ endured held within it the satisfaction of the price paid for humanity; the satisfaction of the holy judgment of God on a sinful, rebellious people; the satisfaction of thousands of prophets looking down into the annuls of time proclaiming the salvation of the Lord; the satisfaction of the law of sin and death that we might have the ability to walk in the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. This the satisfaction of every type, every shadow within the tabernacle: from priest to Lamb, from laver to the Holy of Holies, every one purposed, placed, and anointed by the hand of God. In this sacred culmination of sacrifice; the triumph of the will of God through His Christ; this momentous focus of the eons, that which angels desired to look into.

Now this [i]example that we should follow in His steps[/i] has prepared for us this way. A road of renouncing: the attitudes and thoughts that lead sin; to our mortal desires for “fairness”, for personal justification of our own thoughts and deeds; even the attitudes of superiority that strengthen the mindset that there are favorites in the kingdom of God and somehow we must be one...
(when really there is One Favorite, one Beloved and His Bride, which unites the Body of the Beloved in one hope for the future: [i]...for they are all Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them...[/i]

Oh, how the way of the cross pierces into the innermost thoughts!
How it penetrates into the hidden chambers of the heart!
How boldly the Holy Spirit (the governor within those hidden places who holds up the standard of Christ and the [i]law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus[/i] within the Kingdom of God) charges in to the inner-sanctum of our own ways and shines the light of Christ on them and expects an answer for our selfish, self-styled, self exalting, deceptive practices. Not only does He patiently wait while we recognize the enemy of humility and wisdom- but He hands us the sword, a sharp two edged sword, and expects us, empowered by Him, to slay these things that would hinder our pathway to glorifying Christ and becoming more like Him day by day.

...by whose stripes ye are healed...

Many would suppose that these words were applying to healing which takes place within the body, and Christ certainly did that all throughout His life. God does not ignore the results of the curse, He is very merciful to us in our human weaknesses. He is more than able to make us well; yet, often [b]we[/b] who live in the flesh focus on the flesh and pay little attention to the unseen that effects us both body and soul.

(It’s much easier to eat something that is toxic to my physical being if I do not pay attention to what it is in what I am consuming. It may very well be that the ignore-ance with which we consume anything, whether entertainment, media of every sort... that which would stir up within our hearts and minds feelings, sensations, desires, anger and other soulish inducements...holds within it a toxic effect upon our spiritual well being, that though not seen lends itself to spiritual illness.)

God who sees our state of sin sickness from beginning to end. He knows all the bondages of internal oppressions which bind us into states of being that border madness; the oppressions that humans place upon other humans as well- to transfer their tortured hearts externally and make everyone around them as miserable as they are; fears and phobias about such tiny things that would consume an entire life; despair, hopelessness, misery wrap themselves around a heart and mind to points where they would take their own life as they seem to be unable to see past what is in their own soul. I’m sure the list of bondages and oppressions is near endless, the hole that sin and sin sickness drags us into is a very deep one; [b]but[/b] God is deeper still! There is no slough of despond that God can not deliver you out of!

Christ expressed His ministry on the earth as this:
[i]The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.[/i]

While on this earth Christ spoke to the demonically opressed and set them free; He touched the blind giving them sight; He spoke to the little girl whose spirit had been taken by death- "Talitha cumi" "Little girl, I tell you to arise." There was no oppression, no sickness, no sorrows so overwhelming that Christ could not heal them and set them free and give them wholeness, no wonder the crowds followed Him.

And no wonder they [i]esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted[/i]; the taunt of the hateful [i]Come down from the cross. He saved others, Himself he can not save?[/i]...

Yet, the way of the cross:
[i]He was wounded for our transgression[/i]- the breaking of the commands of God, from Adam down through time (the law of sin and death);

[i] He was bruised for our iniquities[/i]-that sin sickness, the sin which so easily besets us, the heart which is desperately wicked who can know it, that heartbreaking affect which destroys without mercy all within its path;

[i]surely He bore our sorrows[/i]- every oppression, every offense, every affliction of heart and mind and soul, the utter anguish of heart we face once the hopelessness of ever finding any path to God in our own strength or with our own ability finally sets in, that mourning which can overwhelm with the revelation of your offense towards God;

[i]and by His stripes we are healed[/i] the wounds that were inflicted blow by blow upon the Saviors body with whips that cut in and ripped His flesh... it is these very stripes that have given humanity down through the ages of time the opportunity to receive the balm of gilead to their very souls; to receive the proper eyesight of their position before God; and to obtain, not merely a dose for this or that issue, rather a healing which would make you [b]whole[/b] before God, before man, and before the enemy.
Oh, for every wound this world and it’s sins would thrust upon your soul that which would make you shrink back at the slightest recall of the wound- the Savior received the force of that blow. He took upon Himself the effect of every offensive deed that would bring us to terror and so provoke the very heart of God.
A healing not merely for the body, but a wholeness of mind, a propriety of emotion, a place of removed fears and inward trust towards God.
Those who have been broken upon the rocks of selfish sins, find a place more than mere recovery, but a place of brand new, pure life- regeneration.

[i]The chastisement of our peace was upon Him...[/i]
[i]LORD, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.[/i] Isaiah: 26:12
[i]And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.[/i] Is 32:17

Peace, The Prince of Peace , the [b]peace offering[/b], perfect peace, the way of peace, and on earth peace, that peace which passes all understanding, do ye have that peace?
That peace that as one previously said: “When the dove of peace leaves your heart, search through and see what caused Him to leave, and once you have discovered, repented, rebuked or surrendered, He will fly back again.”

Consider well your way, see if the peace which was purchased by Christ, by this chastising from His Father on the cross of our salvation, is living in your life.

Jesus said [i]Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.[/i]

It seems as though some view this verse and say in their hearts, oh perhaps someday this work will be fixed in my heart and I will no longer fear, I will no longer have a constant stirring up in my heart with anxiety at the helm; some day much like patience and joy I will find that peace hanging in my heart like a cloak and I can put it on.
[i]But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. [/i] Romans 13:14
[i]For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.[/i] Gal 3:27
[i]And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.[/i] Eph. 4:24

Christ, who having stood in that place of the peace offering, who received the weight of every transgression upon Himself, who purchased with His own blood, the outpouring of His own life the right to give to you peace. He has accomplished the work.

Should we then wrestle with this? Should I then say, if only I could attain it? God forbid!

No! Instead ye, put off; ye, lay aside; ye, lay hold; ye, have faith; ye, cling fast and do not ever let go!

When once you allow the working of the cross to penetrate through that hard-headed, self serving, protection of your own flesh and receive the finished working of Christ on the cross- by faith, and by practice; in that moment of surrender you find this guard of peace standing at the doorway of your heart; and not one thing that shakes this whole world could cause you to doubt or bring you to a place of fear. Once you’ve drank from the waters of God’s peace what would you have that would stand between the peace that you have tasted and your own desires, your own way, your own defense?

God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tossed about by tempest without having the opportunity to receive first His river of peace.

Do you feel overwhelmed? Cling to the Savior who walked upon the waters, who spoke to the storm [i]Peace, be still[/i], who knows well the waves and the billows for they have all before gone over Him. Are you harassed, by memory, or fear, or some outward element? The Shepherd of your soul, if given the place, will not allow the hounds of hell to chase after you; He will keep you in that place of perfect peace even if that means that you stop running, look at those hounds fearless and say, ‘every piece of treat for you is gone. I trust that my Shepherd will protect me, I will run from you no more!’ Take the sword in your hand, Christian, turn upon the beast and fight! Slay the hellish harassers, by the blood of Christ, by the Life of Christ, by the power and authority of all heaven and earth that our Lord Jesus Christ was given and pronounced that it is available for thee!!!

The lions may roar, but they be upon a leash! And even if the lions run toward thee to tear your flesh, what should we fear? That this life would cease and that endless life eternal with Christ forever in His home should begin? [i]Do not fear them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.[/i] And it is this very One, who put upon the awful cross His own Son to suffer and die on your behalf that He could make a place for thee to receive of all the wonders that He had established for His heirs!
[i]Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.[/i]

Oh, Christian, what hope have ye? Does the hope of heaven ring within your heart? Does the realization of the price paid for thy soul shake every selfish way? [i] Does your heart instead desire to be a child of the Great King of Kings? [i]But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.[/i]

[i]Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.[/i] 2Peter 3:14

Far too often when one recognizes a scripture written, we often hurry through thinking that we already know what 'it' says.

Perhaps we know what the words would say, perhaps we know the reference and what we would think about it, but sometimes we need to stop, consider it, listen to it, chew it, and slowly read each and every word of because the Word of God is precious.

If the Word of God is indeed our food, our spiritual food I would not eat a "fast food" meal; rather, a gourmet meal and the flavors so delicate, the spices so perfectly blended that trying to pick out just one or two is sonetimes futile.

Yet even more than digesting and mere consuming the Word, to allow the Word of God to nourish. For every element which the Holy Spirit would use in our lives to strengthen, to convict, to purge, to point out, each one is needful and precious and we all must [i]hear what the Spirit would say[/i] lest we all just [i]go our own ways[/i].
~~~~~

[i]All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to our own way, and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry...

An oracle within my heart concerning the transgressions of the wicked(NKJ): [b]there is no fear of God before his eyes[/b]. For he [u]flattereth himself in his own eyes[/u], until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The [b]words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit[/b]; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; [b]he abhorreth not evil[/b].

If I regard (approve, enjoy, gaze, view, think, advise self- Strongs) iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: the have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.

And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

For the vile person will speak villany (foolish stupidity-Strongs), and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it can not save;
neither is His ear heavy, that it can not hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue hath uttered perverseness.
None calleth for justice,
nor any pleadeth for truth:
they trust in vanity, and speak lies;
they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.[/i]

Show us, Lord, each one a revelation of your cross, not that we would delight in any pain or sorrow; rather that we would grasp the price, that we would each moment walk with the cross before us; that in this world full of sin, sorrows and sick-ness of every kind- we would walk with the heart of the Christ who suffered for every soul burning in every word we speak.

That we would take no offense to our own selves, that we would not choose our own paths over yours, that we would see the preciousness of each and every other person brought into the kingdom and treat them with the respect that befits the family of God.

Lord, that we would understand the intensity of Your love for the souls of men (including our own feeble, flawed, obstinate heart); and the sufficiency of Your sacrifice to extract the most loathsome from the grasp of hell and make them a child of your own.

[i]All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to our own way, and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.[/i]

Sheep are not necessarily by nature seditious, somewhat hard headed, easily deceived, very subject to predators, and so on; but they are very herd oriented, should a member of the herd decide to go this way then more than likely the rest will follow, never would a sheep take into consideration that it was a bad move. Self preservation among sheep generally follows the line that wherever the herd goes, we all go, there‘s probably safety in numbers. Except in the respect of a young lamb full of energy, it may well run from the shepherd and wander away just out of carelessness and curiosity; that is the lamb you see in pictures upon the shepherd’s shoulders: the one who ends up with the shepherd breaking it’s leg so he can carry it around and let the leg heal, all the while the lamb is learning to depend on and trust the shepherd.

Yet, in reality we are ever struggling even as Christians against being: each one turned to [i][b]our own way[/b][/i]. Before the work of Christ in a heart, before the piercing of His love wounds our self, before the comprehension at all regarding the payment which was required for my redemption; all that there was within that unregenerate life was [i]our own way[/i]. There was not one time that, even when the recognition that there was a God and He had created a beautiful world, and perhaps “cared for my soul”, did I ever cease to go my own way. No one, within the churches that I attended as a child, ever explained to me that being born again would mean that one would no longer walk ‘your own way‘, rather the charge to keep would then be in learning to walk God’s way.

(I wished that someone had explained that to me in my youth, instead of simply telling me over and over that I needed to simply “ask for forgiveness”, when as a child I would ask why I had such struggles with sin and my conscience, why I was constantly being defeated by what I was later to find out, was very much ‘my own way‘.)

All to often today, church attenders, and those who name themselves Christians: along the horizon of modern evangelisms products, are those that desire to enhance their [i]own way[/i] with a Savior. Someone who would help their imperfect lives to stand under the banner of “forgiven“, that the sensation of guilt would find abatement, they could then not worry regarding the residing in heaven or hell, and someone who would care for them with at least equal measure as they do themselves . The Comforter is seen as a great means: should anyone ever need Him, He’ll be there to make you better when your down and out and help you on your way of being a better you... in the scope of all the misunderstandings regarding the Holy Spirit in this day and age, it is probably far more than one paragraph can describe!

The cross has all to often become an icon instead of a reality. More often merely to be considered once in a while, usually at Easter and Communion Sundays (for the 10 minutes it took to reflect on the bread and wine... maybe).

[i]If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.[/i] How often have we sang:[i]On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross, where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain...[/i] Please consider this part of the 4th verse and think about what it is saying. [i]To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear... [/i] Search our hearts and see if truly our ‘shame and reproach‘ is that which comes from the cross of Christ and not our own idiosyncrasies, if we even have a place in our hearts for Christ’s ’shame and reproach’. [i] So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.[/i]

This cross is not covered with gold, or finely planed to smooth; Christ’s cross is one bloody place, rough and difficult, fraught with pain and sorrow; with death to self; the ugliness and the weight of sin laid upon this innocent Son of God; the judgment for our sins upon Him who knew no sin. This cross is a place whereby we surrender all, not cling fast to our own life.

Far to easy as humans we can seek to [i]save our own life[/i], to choose to keep our own way. The cross will interfere with what I want my life to look like, the things I want to obtain or attain to; and the choice of having ‘my way’ and basically be in control of what my life consists of, or to take up my cross and surrender what I would choose, and instead go in such a way that to glorify God is the all important direction.

The Lamb of God, for whom it was predestined that He should [b]be[/be] the sacrifice since the foundations of the world, came to this dusty, sin-sick world and walked these roads, healed these people, slept in the boat, even fed them food in the wilderness; and showed us telling us in so many ways and again, [i]because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent Me.[/i] [i]...I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him. They understood not that He spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, [b]‘When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things.’[/i][/b]

This, the Son of Man, born of a woman, and born of the Holy Spirit-...[i]therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God[/i], who chose not to do His own will. This, the heavenly brought down to the earth, who become a part of the earthly, who [i]..made of Himself no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in the fashion of a man, [b]He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross.[/b][/i]

Oh the goodness and the wisdom of God, oh the depth of the love I find in that life of Christ! In that cross, what we find there will never cease to teach us about the character, the love and the sovereignty of God, every time we consider these things!

Oh, the wonder! Oh, the love of God which reaches deeper than any “sin stain”, that extends out to generations yet to be born; that calls to the poor and the wealthy, the intellectual and the stupid, the achiever and the ignoble, the owner and the employee on the same level ground. It is that which encompasses the entire world knowing no cultural boundaries, neither takes the side of kin of persons; and that which draws us with cords of love to the heights of heaven. This love was not just some strong emotion that lacked expression, this was the ultimate gift of love towards a self centered, disobedient, prideful, soul drifting on its way happily (or even unknowingly) towards hell! This is the love that bridged the gap between what could never happen with humankind and what is possible through God!

And I, if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me. He spoke this signifying what death He should die. John 12