Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What does it mean to “glory ... in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” as the apostle says in Galatians 6:14—“God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”? To “glory” in something is to revel in it, to be absorbed in it, to think of it day and night, to live for it; we do that all the time when we “glory” in our speed boat, or in our wardrobe, or in our palace-like house, or even in our garden, or in our special abilities that make people envy us. How can we learn to “glory in the cross”?

To “glory” in earthly things is idolatry; and the end is boredom (the nursing homes are full of people who have spent their lives in various forms of idolatry and now have nothing to live for).

To “glory in the cross of Christ” would be a delightful experience if one knew how to do it; but what does the cross mean to us?

Christ suffered for us, but the soldiers who are dying in Iraq are also suffering; some of them lie in agony, wounded, for longer times than Jesus suffered on His cross. What is so special about the suffering of Jesus? When Paul “gloried in the cross” the world itself was “crucified to [him]” and he was “dead” to its alluring temptations; the cross of Christ had done something for him and to him. The love (agape) demonstrated there impacted him so deeply that “henceforth” he was “constrained” to devote himself to the cause and mission of Christ; he was “crucified with Christ” (2:20). It wasn’t because Paul was a super-hero; he was a sinner by nature as much as any of us; he said he was “less than the least of all sinners” (Eph. 3:8).

What the apostle “saw” we can “see” today: the death that Jesus died on His cross was not the ordinary “death” we know; He died “the second death” (Rev. 2:11; 20:12-15), which meant under “the curse of God,” the horror of the endless darkness of hell; and Christ suffered it for every human soul on earth (Gal. 3:13; Heb. 2:9). Let the solemn truth stretch your mind and “enlarge [your] heart” as David prays (Psalm 119: 32), so you can “comprehend” its vast dimensions (Eph. 3:14-19).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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