The message of the cross is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:18
The little verse has dug into my soul for almost two weeks. The more I meditate on it, the deeper it sinks. The Cross had a place of prominence during my childhood. It was not something pulled out at Easter for the "children's play" or worn as a fashion statement or only used to make a point when engaged in religious arguments. The Cross was sacred and personal. Everything centered around the Cross at home and it was taken to heart. It was not mere symbolism.
This wonderful piece of artwork recently acquired by The National Gallery of Art's Board of Trustees (Thomas Moran’s "Mountain of the Holy Cross,") just made that verse swirl in my heart all over again. I kept thinking of my grandmother, my godmother and my elder aunts (now gone on to heaven), and how committed they were to living the message within our family. Things are so different today. We now barely have any remembrance of the Cross in the average Christian home or church. How do we daily take up (Matthew 10:38, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23) our cross if we don’t even really relate to His Cross? The Cross has been moved aside for the coffee bar and market place in the church lobby. The altar has been replaced with fancy lighting, TV equipment and sound. Is it possible that so many who think they are prospering are actually perishing in the pews (1 Corinthians 1:18) because the Cross has become once-a-year symbolism?
As the Cross goes, so goes the message (message of the cross). A reporter once asked President Obama why He chose Christ to follow (in spite of the fact that He is ridiculed as an unbeliever), and he answered that no other person in history has made that sacrifice (the Cross) of unconditional love for him. Too many of us have forgotten the message, the unconditional love; so we deny salvation to others. Now, many of us run around with a trumped-up image of Christ, but we have forgotten that His power was revealed in His stripped bare state. We have every emblem, from chicken sandwiches to fish decals, but the one that matters to sacrifice and salvation is not in our minds, much less in our hearts.
We forget that God is not like us (Isaiah 55:8-9). While we like to display our power by putting on a big show, God's power really shines most when all is laid bare... in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 13:4, Romans 8:29) .. in simplicity (1 Corinthians 1:27, 1 Corinthians 2:5).
I saw a "conservative" bumper sticker which said, "I'll keep my God, my guns and my money, and you can keep your change.". I got the sarcasm and mockery as I sat waiting for the light to change, but I felt strangely sad for that soul and prayed for them. A Christ follower would understand that we don't keep God; God keeps us. A Christ follower would understand that only God's grace and mercy is true protection. Satan fears only one weapon: The Word, the Spirit, of God. A Christ follower would live with the knowledge that everything on earth belongs to God, and the dime or two in their pocket is but a temporary possession. A Christ follower would not hold grudges over change, for everything will change but God. Love never fails because He is love (1 John 4:16) the Word never fails because He is the Word (John 1:1, Revelation 19:13).
Most of all, a Christ follower would learn to take it to the Cross. The Cross is the place of ultimate change, of forgiveness, of healing, of mercy, of sacrifice, of unconditional and unending love. No political or social message, however "moral" or "religious", can bring change like the Cross can. It is the Cross; the power of God, that changes the inner beings and revives our spirit.
Let us renew our minds (Ephesians 4:23). Instead of mocking change, we should be running to the Cross; submitting all that we are to the power of God. Once we experience the Cross, we won't need a bumper sticker with a message; our changed lives will reflect the message...God is love.
Let us live as if It is finished. All of it, whatever it is, is finished. Let us take it to the Cross. Some of us are carrying too much baggage and labeled with too many bumper stickers. We need to strip bare. If we get nothing else today, may we know, in spirit and truth, the message of Cross. Let the church say, "Amen."
For although He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God; and we also are weak with Him, but we are living with Him by the power of God, who is in you. - 2 Corinthians 13:4
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