The Cross Trumps Everything

As educators, we deal with the flow of ideas, events and forces through history which have shaped our world and which continue to have relevance and human interest today.   As Christian educators, we look upon the crucifixion of Christ as the single, most cherished and important event of all of history.  It is the one event that impacts our lives today, and addresses the human condition far more profoundly than anything else.

Paul, the apostle, grasps the extraordinary weight of it in his writings. Paul was the educated, sophisticated former Jewish Rabbi and Sanhedrin ruler.  He was the man who was blessed with superior intelligence and a strong motivation to excel. Without a doubt Paul was one of the most dominant personalities of the New Testament era and he became one of the most renowned leaders in the church.  He was a church planter extraordinaire, founding more churches than any other apostle.  He had traveled countless miles in missionary journeys into uncharted territory. He overcame more setbacks and hardship than any other apostle and had phenomenal spiritual experiences and spiritual power on his life.  Today’s church would laud Paul as the great superstar of the Christian faith. 

Yet Paul’s attitude would be, “No red carpet for me!”   Instead, he emphatically states that the only thing he found worth bragging about was “the cross of Jesus Christ!”  He said, “If I will do any bragging at all, it will be in the cross of Jesus Christ!”  Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  (Galatians 6:14)  Paul got it.  He understood the enormity of it.

Current philosophical arguments tend to ask such questions as: “How can a God of love allow so much suffering in the world?” “How can God allow the injustice that exists throughout our society and in other societies around the world?” “Why is there so much inequity in the distribution of the world’s wealth?” “How can you say that other faith traditions aren’t as valid as the Christian faith?” Here’s the answer, plain and simple: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

"The great Creator became my Saviour . . ." Absolutely amazing!  Nothing else needs to be said.