The Person of the Cross

  As I study the Bible and especially the writings of Paul, I notice something. Paul's answer to any question is always Christ, especially Christ on the cross. In our lives we are always looking for answers. We want answers about our families, about life. Why is there such evil in the world? Why are people the way they are? Why am I the way I am? The list goes on and on and we are no different from people of the past. From the very beginning we have struggled to find these answers and more. In Paul's day it wasn't any different and Paul's answer was always the same, Christ. Christ is the answer to all of our questions. He is either answer or the solution. Evil and sin are in the world, there is no denying it. Christ is the answer! Relationships are broken, Christ is the answer. We are selfish and greedy with our time, money and everything else, Christ is the answer. We are out of touch with our Father in heaven, lost and astray, Christ is the answer!

  Paul also glorified the cross. The cross was the ultimate place of shame in Paul's time. No one would have ever worn a cross around their neck. The cross was a place of scorn and ridicule, yet Paul boasted in 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 NIV). The reason Paul could make such a claim is because Paul knew the person of the cross.

  Paul had spent his life dedicated to becoming a Pharisees. He went to the finniest schools, he was up and coming. He prided himself in being the most knowledgeable, the most loyal, and the most 'religious'. If anyone could boast in his own righteousness it was Paul, in which he said he was 'faultless'. But on the road to Damascus all of that changed. In meeting Christ Paul's whole life was changed forever. He was never the same again, in fact in Philippians he would say this, "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:7-8 NIV). Paul looked back and considered everything he had learned, everything he had accomplished rubbish, trash, garbage! Compared to knowing Christ, nothing else mattered for Paul.

  In my own life the closer I draw to Christ the more my life changes. I start to see people the way Christ sees them. In the battle with sin, I see my sin more like Christ sees my sin and I am disgusted and humbled. The person of the cross changed my life forever. I have never been the same and I can't live without him. Paul knew this and thus boasted in the cross and preached the gospel with boldness. In your life remember the person of the cross, Christ and boast to the world in knowing him.


~ps

Next we'll look at the "Power of the Cross"