How the Cross Helps Us Kill Pride

I have talked in the past about the importance of killing pride in our own lives.  I think one of the most important ways we can do this (to start) is by looking at the cross.  The cross is quite possibly the greatest event in human history.  Think about it for a minute.  We know it, we sing about it every week, but when was the last time you actually took time to pause on the weight of it all?  The death of the Jesus on the cross. 

I believe that the cross has (2) main lessons to be learned...

First, it reminds us that we are unspeakably lost and it took something unfathomably significant to save us.  The reality in grasping this is that anybody who truly understands the purpose of the cross isn't going to put their thumbs in their armpits & their nose in the air and strut around talking about how great they are.  They're not going to brag about their stuff and aren't going to talk a lot about their achievements or how well they do things.  Instead, they will look at the incredible horror of their Savior, Jesus, hanging on the tree and simply say...that's how corrupt I am!  I am a sinner, I deserve to die, but instead...Christ took the wrath that I deserve and I have been set free.

Which brings us right to the second lesson of the cross.  It's good news.  God so loved the world, that He gave (put to death) His only Son, that whoever believes in Him [who he is, what he did etc] shall not parish [as they ought to] but have eternal life.  That is a beautiful reward...and the most significant part of the whole thing is that none of us did anything to earn it.

So, the biggest challenge that we [as Christians] face is to feel loved, but to feel it unworthily.  To wake up in the morning and be thrilled to have life & to know God and his mercy...but to also know at the same time that it is totally undeserved.  We aren't special.  We are no different than anyone else.  We played no part in our Salvation.  It was totally and absolutely the work of Jesus by the grace of God. (Eph. 2:8-9)

By now you are probably asking, how do we get there?  How do we get to a place where we rid ourselves of our human tendency to boast in ourselves?  We pray.  Pray that God humbles us enough to bring us to an understanding of the purpose of the cross.  That God gets us to the point where Christ is so overwhelmingly great and unquestionably the "center" and "treasure" of our lives, that there is no way we can ever put ourselves back into His rightful place.  He is LORD.  He has earned it, he died for it and we enjoy the blessings of it.

I pray that this truth takes root in each of our lives today.  And that we can each start to live and remember the beauty and truth of the cross each and every day.

Gal. 6:14

For His Glory,

Jason