Galatians 6:14

Throughout the whole of last week, I was meditating upon this verse which came upon my mind after reading two books namely, "The Cross of Christ" by John Stott and "Don't waste your life" by John Piper. What does this verse say? If you are too lazy to flip your bible to find out what it says, you can always copy my entry title and paste it onto the Biblegateway search bar located on my sidebar. Haha.

Ok, here is what it says:
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." ~Gal 6:14~

What is boast? Boast is to talk about oneself with excessive pride. The verse to me is telling me that if you ever want to boast, boast in the cross of Christ where I have crucified myself to the cross with Him and no longer of this world. My old self is now dead and the new life that I live now is all by the grace of Christ. The old has gone and the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17). I have became a new creation in Christ.

The cross to the others is a symbol of defeat, shame and foolishness. 1 Cor 1:18 says it very well that for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The cross is the power of God! The cross is where my old self is being crucified together with Christ and I am no longer under the bondage and control of sin. This is precisely what I want to boast to others and definitely not my money, fame or power.

This verse cannot be dimissed as Pauline idiosyncrasy. For, as we have known as Christians, the cross was central to the mind of Christ, and has always been central to the faith of the church. Firstly, to glory or boast in the cross is to see it as the way of acceptance with God. The most important of all questions is how we, as lost and guilty sinners, may stand before a just and holy God. It was to answer this question loud and clear that Paul, in the passionate heat of his controversy with the Judaizers, dashed off his letter to the Galatians. Like them some people today still trust in their own merits. But God forbid that we should boast except in the cross. The cross excludes all other kinds of boasting (Rom 3:27).

Secondly, to glory or boast in the cross is to see it as the pattern of our self-denial. Although Paul writes of only one cross ('the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ'), he refers to two crucifixions, even three. On the same cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was himself crucified, 'the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.' The 'world' thus crucified (repudiated) does not of course mean the people of the world (for we are called to love and serve them), but the values of the world, its godless materialism, vanity and hypocrisy (for we are told not love these, but to reject them). The 'flesh' has already been crucified (5:24); now 'the world' joins it on the cross. We ought to keep the two main crucifixions of 6:14 in close relation to each other - Christ's and ours. For they are not two, but one. It is only the sight of Christ's cross which will make us willing, and even anxious, to take up ours. It is only then that we shall be able with integrity to repeat Paul's words after him that we glory in nothing but the cross.

I feel many times people are not ready to put their faith in Christ because they have not fully understood the Cross. Remembering what apostle Peter has said, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..." (1 Peter 3:15), let us boast in nothing else but only in the Cross of Christ so that we can be always ready to tell others about the hope we have and bring Christ to them.

Let Galatians 6:14 be my key verse in my Christian life as I continue to meditate upon it daily and focus on Christ alone.