Embracing the Cross

Philippians 1:27-2:11, Romans 6, Galatians 2:20

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for going to the cross for my sins.  Thank You for your sinless life, perfect sacrifice, atoning provision, death, and resurrection.  Thank You for being a worthy sacrifice for my sins, and the sins of the whole world. Thank You for embracing the shame of the cross that I might be forgiven and made new through the atoning sacrifice of Your shed blood.  I was guilty, condemned, and worthy of death.  Your sacrificial death and atonement called me to kneel at the cross where You freed me from the burden and condemnation of the load of my sin.  You made me brand new!  Thank You.

You did the unthinkable and beckoned me, a forgiven child of God, to come to my own cross and die.  I cringe from the cross.  I shrink from the cross.  Yet, You tenderly, persistently call me.  Thank You for the invitation to die to myself, my smallness, my flesh, my relationships, my possessions, my agenda, my plans, my ambitions, my dreams, and my goals.  Thank You for loving me enough to peel back the layers of my life, demanding surrender all the way.  Thank You for peeling farther and farther, until You reach the core of my personhood.  Thank You for Your persistent call to surrender, to death to self, to abandonment to the cross, until I die. 

Thank You for the delight of dying to myself, that I might be filled with all of the fulness of God.  Thank You for the personal resurrection that is sure to come through the fulness of the Holy Spirit.  Thank You for working Your grace and the fruit of Your Spirit into my life.  I love You.

Thank You for the call to carry Your cross.  I tried to carry the cross before I knelt at it in repentance and faith.  Only failure resulted.  I could not save myself through good works.  I tried to carry the cross before I died on it.  Only failure resulted.  The cross chaffed mercilessly.   

Now, the cross draws me.  I want to carry it for You.  I find joy in finding my identity in You.  I find joy in identifying with Your cross and all that it stands for.  Thank You for the joy of dying to my smallness and being resurrected to Your all-encompassing vastness.  Thank You for setting me free to be fulfilled in losing myself in You.  Thank You for a place of service where I can bear Your cross.  Thank You that the cross is about You, not any heroism on my part.  My death on my cross has atoned for no one.  Your once-for-all sacrificial death atones for the sins of the whole world.  Thank You.

I love You.  I worship You.  I want to live a dynamic life of faith, obedience, and service for You, not out of guilt, duty, or obligation, but out of love.  I choose to bear the cross today.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.