The Triumph of the Cross

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

The Cross, as the Scripture brings it before us, is the meeting place between man's hate and God's love. Hate laid hold of Love, Love laid hold of Hate, and Love triumphed. That's the story of the Cross. Love is stronger than hate. Love is stronger than greed, and lust, and bitterness, and jealousy, and haughtiness, and prejudice, and pride and all the other evil things of human life. In the Cross of Christ we see our own sin. But in the Cross of Christ we see God's grace as well. Listen to me: Grace is greater than sin! If any man or woman who comes to the Cross, who comes in helplessness, who stops being defensive, who quits trying to make excuses and bolster up their ego and comes and just says, It's all true, I need this, I can't save myself! it's then that love begins to manifest its victory over evil. And the glory of grace shines out above the darkness of man's sin. And there is healing, strength and pardon. Thousands and thousands can testify to this through the ages, that it was the Cross of Christ which broke through and set them free.

Grace is flowing like a river, millions there have been supplied, and still it flows as fresh as ever from the Savior's wounded side. The Cross of Christ is an event far greater than we can understand. It's a mystery! We can spend hours trying to analyze the workings of God that culminated in the Cross. But all of this will leave us unchanged until we come to grips with this one central fact: Here and here alone, in all of human history, is the power sufficient to break the stranglehold of our habits upon us and begin to set us free. And all through the centuries, men and women have been coming to the Cross of Christ in this simple way, boys and girls, the educated and the ignorant, the savage, the rich man, across all cultures, across all social divisions, and every boundary line that man has erected. Men have come from all places, all kinds, to the Cross of Christ. And invariably, if they've come in helplessness, recognizing that they are in the grip of forces greater than they can handle, that life is bigger than they are, and they admit it, they find in the Cross of Christ that which sets them free.

Lord, when I come again to the Crucified One, I find that I can stand, I can rise up, I can withstand grief, heartache, suffering, pain — all that life throws at me, in the strength of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified for me. Thank you for this.