"People are worried, fearful that the world is soon
coming to an end. Listen, for me as a Christian, the “end of the world”
occurred the day I gave my life to Christ." (Gal. 6:14)
I like the above
paraphrase of Galatians 6:14 for its perspective. I think it's really great that it states,
"the end of the world occurred the day I gave my life to
Christ". Most who don't know Jesus
would likely shake their heads and say, "Yep, that's the very reason I don't want to
go that route" when they interpret it from the "world's"
perspective. To those who have never had
a real encounter with the redeeming power of the Love of Jesus Christ through
the Cross, it seems crazy to give up the world for Jesus (in other words, give
up our own rights to live our lives in the way we want).
Jesus Himself said to count the cost because
following Him means taking the "narrow" road, the road less traveled,
the road with trouble and sometimes persecution.
Yet, unless we see the value of Him we will never
follow. We must SEE Him, as the one
gathering pearls drops his armload of half-rate pearls for that one he suddenly sees as
incomparably valuable compared to all others.
I once taught a message entitled, "What is Your
Carrot?", which asked people to examine what motivates them in living their
daily lives. Just as some farmers would
use an old trick of dangling a carrot from their donkeys’ backs over their
heads, in their line of vision but just out of reach in order to keep them moving
to plow their fields, we also need to constantly keep something in our sights to
remind and encourage us to continue putting one foot in front of the other. In the midst of a world that offers so many
glittering options, we must be, as those donkeys, spurred along in our daily walk with Jesus
There is something missing in the above paraphrase of
Galatians 6:14 that is key to living in this world with an eternal perspective. This person's paraphrase leaves out the word,
"cross" twice when compared to most others interpretations. This world is only a stopping point along our forever journey, a
training or "proving" ground of sorts; in examining Paul's eternal outlook from another translation we see what motivated him along his path into his destiny:
"As for me, may I never boast about
anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my
interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has
also died." - Galatians 6:14 NLT.
Here is the NKJV:
"But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world." (The phrase, "But GOD forbid" suggests strongly
that our reliance for living this life must hinge on the grace of God).
The Cross is central to our resurrection life in Jesus. Although I am sure the writer of the above paraphrase felt that the word
"Christian" encompasses the Cross of Christ, we must be reminded
more, not less, of it's daily significance and necessity in rightly associating
ourselves with every relationship and circumstance in our lives, whether in the
Church, at home, or in the world. As Matthew Henry observed:
“By
Christ, or by the cross of Christ, the world is crucified to the believer, and
he to the world. The more we consider
the sufferings of the Redeemer from the world, the less likely shall we be to
love the world……And as to those who have truly believed in Christ Jesus, all
things are counted as utterly worthless compared with him.” ~Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible
(Concise)
It is interesting to note that an instrument of death
such as the cross, with all it’s cruel horrors, is used by the Lord to influence us to live this new life in Him:
“Then
said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
-Matthew 16:24
What an amazing
God! In His great mercy, He
spares us the unmerciful punishment of death on the cross by taking it upon Himself, then gives us the
symbolism of the cross of Christ, applying as if it is our own, absolving us as if we bore
the punishment ourselves! He asks us to
carry it, not as an instrument of our own death, but as a memorial of the life that we
have been given through the death that Jesus already endured for us. We live because He died, and therefore He
says:
“Look! There lies the key to
eternal life; to successfully navigating through this world like the garden maze
that it is, before opening into the beautiful, wide-open space of forever. Quit looking to yourself and your own
efforts, Child. You can never do this
yourself, nor should you. I already did
this for you, in your place. Remember, 'I Am He
that liveth , and was dead; and, behold , I Am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell
and of death' (Rev. 1:18)”
Could one of the
keys Jesus is referring to in this verse be the emblem of death on which He
purchased our life, and through which He overcame the enemy and made a
laughingstock of him? I like to believe
this is the case. The cross is a key;
the cross is KEY. We must always keep
the Cross of Christ in our line of vision.
Like the evangelist, Arthur Blessitt, who carried a wooden cross
literally around the world (okay, so it had a little wheel attached to one end
to help with mobility) let’s remember to pick up our cross daily. But we must do something first: We must let go of everything else to which . we hold so tightly, in order that our
hands will be free to grasp our cross. We must deny ourselves and ignore our "I want, I want" tendencies, sacrificing our
rights to ourselves every day, submitting our lives under His authority, Word,
and Life. We are resurrected with Christ!
“Knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves of sin. For
he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him, knowing that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin
once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be
dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal
body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to
sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God.” - Romans 6:6-13
And finally, a closing word of wisdom
from Paul: “I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
When we are made conformable to His death, the resurrection
life of Jesus Christ raises us up to live an overcoming life in this world.
