April 07 – GREATNESS OF THE CROSS!

“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

Paul, the apostle, was trained by the famous philosopher, Kamaliyel. He was born in Israel dynasty and belongs to the tribe of Benjamin. He was an expert in the laws. He had been a Pharisee and also a scribe. Further, he was full of reverence. But, He never valued these factors highly but proclaimed that the cross was his greatness.

Firstly, the cross is the place where the divinity gets revealed in full. There you see the perfect love and sacrifice of God. There, you see the humility of Christ, who took the form of a bondservant for your sake. You also find the way to heaven, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Some years ago, a Russian Astronaut named Nicholas researched in the space and came back to earth. After this, he began to criticise Christianity disgustingly. He said, “I went to space and came back. There was no Christ and no god. There is no god at all.” This was published in all the newspapers.

Billy Graham, who read this wanted to reply. So, he wrote a short story in the next day’s newspaper. He wrote, “An earthworm pushed its head above the ground level, looked around, went below again and told its family members that there is no human being in the world.” After writing this, he continued to write, “Dear astronaut, if you want to see Jesus Christ come nearer to the cross. There, you can see the perfection of the divinity.”

Secondly, the cross is an altar where the sins get forgiven. There, the Lord sacrificed His only begotten Son as a sin offering and made redemption, the forgiveness of sins. His heart melts with compassion and he forgives those who come to the cross with remorse and seek forgiveness.

Thirdly, the cross is the place where the curses get broken. Living with the curses will keep bringing sorrows and sufferings day after day. Dear children of God, cry out to Jesus, who became a curse on the cross for your sake, to break your curses. Then, God who drives away the curses will pity you and bless you in proportion to the years of curses and sorrow, you had experienced.

To meditate: “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him” (Revelation 22:3).