The Crux of The Matter

I don't know how many times I've driven downtown, looked at a church and seen a big cross mounted above the door or on the roof. I can't tell you how many churches in the phone book use the cross as part of their logo. There is no way for me to count all of the crosses I see on an almost daily basis. From wall art to necklaces to clothing... the cross is everywhere. And for this reason I confess I have come to grips with a tragic fact about myself... While the cross is almost daily present in my life, I have for years neglected to understand its significance. The cross is more than I imagined it to be. This image is not simply just an object of faith. The cross is not just a symbol of Christianity, a reminder of Jesus, the way Jesus died, or even a story to be told. The cross is even deeper than all of that. The cross is a pattern. The kind of pattern that you copy. The kind of pattern that you memorize and trace and follow. The cross at its core is an example of what Christianity is to look like. Not just Jesus' Christianity, but my Christianity. My Christianity is to be more than church, more than rules, more than heaven, more than grace, more than worship, more than all of that. Christianity is to be about self sacrifice. Blood, tears, pain, sweat, blisters, uncomfortable, lonely, broken sacrifice. Christianity should resemble the cross, plain and simple.... that is the crux of the matter.

Philippians 3 ¹⁷Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. ¹⁸For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ