Thisweekend we are reminded more than any other of the sacrifice Christ made on our
behalf. Worship services this weekend
are centered on the sacrifice that Christ made and the power He displayed by
conquering the grave. The sacrifice on the cross was complete surrender to the
will of the Father, which when done, gave the Father permission to show His
power. He took the sacrificed life and raised a new life filled with power.
When we
come face to face with the cross and the reality of the act of sacrifice we are
faced with the decision to surrender, die upon it or ignore it.
A.W. Tozer
wrote this as a reflection on the cross in the book The Root of Righteousness:
The cross affects its
ends by destroying one established pattern, the victim’s, and creating another pattern,
its own. Thus it always has its way. It wins by defeating its opponent and
imposing its will upon him.
With perfect knowledge
of all this Christ said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me.” So the cross not only brings Christ’s
life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His
true followers.
We must do something
about the cross…flee it or die upon it.
If we are wise we will do what Jesus did: endure the cross and despise
its shame for the joy that is set before us. To do this is to submit the whole
pattern of our lives to be destroyed and built again in the power of an endless
life. The cross will cut into our lives
where it hurts worst, sparing neither us nor our carefully cultivated
reputations. It will defeat us and bring our selfish lives to an end. Only then can we rise in fullness of life to
establish a pattern of living wholly new and free and full of good works.
There is power in the cross to
make changes in our lives.
Now the question is: am I
willing to surrender totally?
If we are willing that is
true worship.