October 3
“Jews request a sign,
and Greeks seek after wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified.”
-1 CORINTHIANS 1:22,23
Unfortunately, salvation as preached today results not in death, but in “swooning.” There is an ecstatic joy and the “near death experience” of a token surrender, but it is not real death. The convert merely changes his conduct, cries a few tears, yet he still lives. The outward deportment may be different, but he has not died. He commences to follow the Lord and fill his life with spiritual activity, but his many failures and shortcomings prove something is missing in his experience. What is it?
and Greeks seek after wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified.”
-1 CORINTHIANS 1:22,23
He knows the Cross only as something Jesus died on for him. The Cross does not represent his own death, but his Lord’s death. It is seldom presented as anything other than the means of atonement and forgiveness of sins. Few realize it is the means by which we enter, as well as live, the Christian life.
Source: Embrace the Cross by Chip Brogden
