The Cross - Part 2

Today we are reprinting a final excerpt from the 1993 book, Thirty Days at the Foot of the Cross.  

"The cross puts everything to the test," wrote Martin Luther. How much more powerfully and righteously we will live if we learn to ask in every situation: "What does the cross mean here?"

• There are poor and needy people around me. What does the cross mean here?
• Someone neglected me or hurt me. What does the cross mean here?
• I had great plans but I didn't follow through. I feel terrible about myself and discouraged about trying again. What does the cross mean here? 
• I spoke rashly and perhaps harshly, and there is a wall between me and my wife. What does the cross mean here?
• This brother or sister has something against me and I'm tired of dealing with it. What does the cross mean here?
• I've been shown needs in the fellowship and I've been asked to sacrifice to meet them. What does the cross mean here?          

In all these situations the cross will never call you to the easiest thing but always to the right thing. Sometimes you must wrestle and struggle to understand what the cross is calling for, but it is worth all the fight to finally arrive at the cross for there you will find the very center of God's perfect will. Avoid the cross, stray from it or try to pad it, and you may very well escape some pain and satisfy some desire. But in the long run you will be hurt, others will be hurt and the Spirit of God will be grieved. You will not find a resurrection by doing a u-turn before the cross.

The cross tests us for all we are worth. It challenges every unrighteous slice of us. It says, "crucify your greed, your self-indulgence and every ounce of racism and prejudice in your heart." It says, "put to death every fragment of self-righteousness and arrogance." It challenges us to the very core of our being. It assures us and comforts us but it will not let us rest. The cross was the most proactive event in history and it is a clarion call to us all to come off the sidelines and get into the action and give.

Whether we have been coming to the cross for years or only for a few months, one fact remains: We need each other as we take it up. The church is the community of the cross, and everything about the cross calls us into each other’s lives. No one misunderstands the message as much as the person who ways, "I want to the cross, but I'll got it alone." "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers" (1 John 3:16).

 Let us, then, unite at the foot of the cross and together find the joy of living it and sharing it with the whole world. Nothing else will do.