The Cross is Crucial

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

1 Corinthians 1:18

The cross. The event, not the wooden object.

Nothing else communicates God’s love and power so dramatically or completely. Solemnly contemplate with me:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).

“All of heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, hell afraid of it, while men are the only ones to ignore its meaning.” –Oswald Chambers

“You’re not likely to err by practicing too much of the cross.” –Alexander Whyte, John Bunyan character, Pilgrim’s Progress

“Jesus has borne the death penalty on our behalf. Behold the wonder! There He hangs upon the cross!... Son of God and Son of Man, there He hangs, bearing pains unutterable, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” –Charles Spurgeon, All of Grace 

“To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ… It is not the sort of suffering, which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship 

“Outside of the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no hope in this world. That cross and resurrection at the core of the Gospel is the only hope for humanity. Wherever you go, ask God for wisdom on how to get that Gospel in, even in the toughest situations of life.” –Ravi Zacharias

All our sins were crushed on the cross. Will we release our short-sighted desires and expectations to be crushed there as well? 

The cross is paramount to our faith, but Jesus didn’t remain on the cross in hopelessness and death.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him (Romans 6:9).

Karen Sims