Great post from a dear sister in the faith, Debbie Pridemore! Had to share it here...

Just thingking about stuff... (Yes I know there's a "g"): Contradictions: "How can we be honest with both our faith and our doubts? Sometimes I'm afraid to doubt, and sometimes I'm afraid to believe. Both stem from ..."

"But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Galatians 6:14)

True Christ-Followers do not only believe in the cross, they glory in it! What the apostle means in the verse above is that he not only admires it, he not only believes in it, but he is moved by it. He is captivated by it. He says here, "God forbid that I should glory, except..."

In other words, Christ-Followers don't just glory in the cross, they glory in the cross alone. They boast...they glory in nothing else. Hear how Isaac Watts puts it:

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

There is an exclusiveness about it. This means that to the Christ-Follower, this is the most monumental thing in history - the most important event that has ever taken place. It means that we rest everything upon this... that we are what we are because of this. We glory in it.

'We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross' -C. J. Mahaney

I must quote Isaac Watts again, because I think he makes this so clear. He says, 'When I survey the wondrous cross,' and I don't think anyone glories in it until they have surveyed it. If you take a casual glance at it, you say, 'Yes, I believe in it.' But, my good friend, men like these have been moved by it! Listen to men like Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, listen to all of them. These men have really seen the meaning of the cross. They can't contain themselves! They can't express themselves! Why? The only secret is this: they have been surveying it and looking at it; they have been gazing at it! And, you see, this is a very good test for us. How much time do you spend thinking about the cross, looking at it, gazing upon it, surveying it from all its angles?

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.

He looks at it, and he keeps doing so. What does he see? 'The Prince of glory died.' He is immortal, He is everlasting. But the immortal dies! Still, there are other strange things that meet together at the cross.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

What a mixture: love and sorrow. Do you see it? Did ever such love and sorrow meet together or flow mingling down together? No, it's unique. This is the spectacle of the ages. Listen to another:

Or thorns compose so rich a crown

You do not associate crowns and thorns, do you? The glory and the splendor and the sparkle of a crown of thorns, fit only to be laid on a fire and burned or cast far away, out of sight. But here they come together - 'thorns compose so rich a crown.' I see one who is utterly and entirely innocent, dying for those who are broken and sinful, dying for rebels, dying for His own enemies.

And it comes to this - He's dying there because of His love, His love for you, His love for me, His love for those who are His enemies. He died for people who hated Him. As He was dying there, Saul of Tarsus was hating Him, but He was dying for Saul of Tarsus. As Paul (to give his subsequent name) puts it later: 'The Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2:20). He did not wait until Paul was converted before He loved him. He loved him as he was, a blasphemer and persecutor and rebel. While Paul was doing that, He was dying for Paul. And He was doing the same for you and me.

'God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...' Do you really believe that the Son of God came down from heaven and died on that cross for you? Do you really believe it? You cannot truly believe it without glorying in it. If you really believe it and see what it means, well, it is everything to you. It can not be some nice little thought you add to your life. It is either everything or else it is nothing. Are you glorying in the cross, my friend? If you are, you can take it from me that you will reap everlasting life, not only here, but in the life to come.

The Wondrous Cross

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?

His dying crimson, like a robe,

Spreads o’er His body on the tree;

Then I am dead to all the globe,

And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

-Isaac Watts (1707)

*Adapted from "The Acid Test," a sermon from Martyn Lloyd Jones

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