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"Far be
it from me to glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath
been crucified unto me, and I unto the world"
(Galatians 6:14).
Paul speaks here of his
only glory being that in Christ he has in very
deed been crucified to the world and entirely
delivered from its power. When he
said, "I have been crucified with Christ" (Gal.
2:20), it was not only an inner spiritual truth,
but an actual, practical experience in relation
to the world and its temptations.
Christ had spoken about the
world hating Him and His having overcome the
world. Paul knows that the world,
which nailed Christ to the cross had in that
deed done the same to him. He boasts
that he lives as one crucified to the world, and
that now the world as an impotent enemy was
crucified to him. It was this that
made him glory in the cross of Christ: it had
produced a complete deliverance from the world.
How very different the
relation of Christians to the world in our
day! They agree that they may not
commit the sins that the world
allows. But except for that they are
good friends with the world, and have liberty to
enjoy as much of it as they can if they keep
from open sin. They do not know that
the most dangerous source of sin is the love of
the world with its lusts and pleasures.
O Christian, when the world
crucified Christ it crucified you with
Him! When Christ overcame the world
on the cross He made you an overcomer too.
He calls you, now, at whatever cost of
self-denial, to regard the world, in its
hostility to God and His kingdom, as a crucified
enemy over whom the cross can ever keep you
conqueror.
What a different
relationship to the pleasures and attractions of
the world the Christian has who by the Holy
Spirit has learned to say: "I have been
crucified with Christ; the crucified Christ
liveth in me!" Let us pray God
fervently that the Holy Spirit, through whom
Christ offered Himself on the cross, may reveal
to us in power what it means to "glory in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which
the world has
been crucified unto me."
And let us remember, "If we
have been planted together in the likeness of
His death, we shall be also in the likeness of
His resurrection…If we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him"
(Romans 6:5,8).
