Here at NewPointe we don’t have a cross on display at all times. I have gotten a lot of questions about this, and it has given me many opportunities to talk about the real meaning of the cross—in fact, more conversations about it than in all the 20+ years we were at Sugarcreek and had crosses everywhere.
Well, today at church everybody had a chance to pick up their cross, and we talked about the real meaning of the cross.
You see, the cross is not something you are to look at. It is something you die on. For anyone in biblical days who had a cross, it meant one thing and one thing only-- you were going to die on that cross.
I trust that you have answered the call of Jesus: “If anyone comes after me they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of Glory died;
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
