Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Boasting in the Cross
Pearl Rajan
St. Paul's MTC,
Dallas, TX
14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world.
Paul's letter to the Galatians is a perfect depiction of how Christ came to fulfill the essence of the law. Paul encourages the Galatians by explaining that the essence of Christianity is not the legalistic aspects of the law, but the principle of grace and mercy found through the sacrifice on the Cross that unites God to man again. The cross allowed for the justice of God to merge with the grace of God which ultimately allowed for us as humans to be in communion with Him. It made a way for us to be a new creation - a creation that is pure, holy and blameless because we are covered by the blood of Jesus In fact, there is nothing else that can unify us to God.
So where does the law play into all of this? C. S. Lewis states in his book Mere Christianity:
“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
How often do we define our Christianity by where we hang out on Sunday mornings? How much do we measure the depth of our relationship with Christ by the duration of our family prayers? Christianity is not a set of rules that we follow "because the Bible says so". Christianity is striving to love like Christ with the full understanding that we cannot reciprocate His love enough. Christianity is pointing people to Christ because we want the world to know a sacrificial love that is deeper than anything anyone can experience aside from Him. This love that is so immense that it fills us with the peace required to withstand the trials of this world and promises us of a glorious eternal life in the world to come. This is a love that creates a new person within us because the truth of the gospel fills our souls.
Paul's letter to the Galatians is a perfect depiction of how Christ came to fulfill the essence of the law. Paul encourages the Galatians by explaining that the essence of Christianity is not the legalistic aspects of the law, but the principle of grace and mercy found through the sacrifice on the Cross that unites God to man again. The cross allowed for the justice of God to merge with the grace of God which ultimately allowed for us as humans to be in communion with Him. It made a way for us to be a new creation - a creation that is pure, holy and blameless because we are covered by the blood of Jesus In fact, there is nothing else that can unify us to God.
So where does the law play into all of this? C. S. Lewis states in his book Mere Christianity:
“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
How often do we define our Christianity by where we hang out on Sunday mornings? How much do we measure the depth of our relationship with Christ by the duration of our family prayers? Christianity is not a set of rules that we follow "because the Bible says so". Christianity is striving to love like Christ with the full understanding that we cannot reciprocate His love enough. Christianity is pointing people to Christ because we want the world to know a sacrificial love that is deeper than anything anyone can experience aside from Him. This love that is so immense that it fills us with the peace required to withstand the trials of this world and promises us of a glorious eternal life in the world to come. This is a love that creates a new person within us because the truth of the gospel fills our souls.
PRAYER
Father God, help us to
boldly boast about the love that you showed us through the cross in every
aspect of our life. Help us to rest on the grace that you gave through the
cross and show this grace towards others so that they are drawn to
you. Amen
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY:
Let us focus the essence of Christianity on the love shown at the cross.
Let us focus the essence of Christianity on the love shown at the cross.