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"The Beauty of the Cross"
by Matt Campbell
from a Selah Moment at Colonial Baptist Church
Did you happen to see the beauty of the sky today?
Few things cause me to use the word beauty in my vocabulary; of course, my wife is the exception.
Beauty is not a typical word that guys use. However, today I will gladly and boldly say that I thought the morning sky was beautiful. It was clear blue with light, wisping, snow-white clouds shaped like sails by the atmospheric wind.
So what did I do?
I stood there for several minutes gazing up into this sky. I wanted to watch that scene as long as I could. My eyes had seen something worth looking at, and I wanted that image to be burned upon my mind. It was beautiful. It was an image worth holding on to. It was worth my gaze.
Sights like this one are one of the few things that cause me to use the word beauty.
What about you? What would cause you to say, "That is beautiful?"
Would it be the beauty of a wedding as the bride and groom are placed in a picture-perfect scene, and they are captivated by each other's gaze? Would it be a baby sweetly sleeping with soft sighs of contentment all wrapped tightly in a soft warm blanket? We like to think about beautiful things. We like to anticipate them. We like to create them in art and music.
What is worth your gaze? What is beautiful to you? What scene do you find so beautiful that you want to burn it upon your mind so you can hold onto it?
Have you ever seen the beauty of the cross? The cross? Beautiful?
"You mean the wooden cross that is blood stained as the instrument of death?” Yes.
Has it ever been beautiful to you? Has it ever held your gaze for more than just a passing glimpse?
Maybe it has been a while since you looked at the beauty of the cross, and you are not even sure what I mean by the beauty of the cross.
Here is what I mean:
The death of Jesus on the cross lifts the weight of sin that crushes our joy and us. Sin has no more power over us, and it cannot condemn us. Jesus bore the full weight of the wrath of God for our sin so we might be reconciled to God. Therefore, the cross frees us then to live in the reality that we are dead to sin, and we are made to be the friends of God. Scenes of reconciliation are beautiful.
The cross is the ultimate demonstration of love that ever occurred in history.
The cross allows us to experience the fullness of God's love for us.
When we know this love, we are able to demonstrate that love to one another.
The cross compels us to love as we have been loved. We are compelled to love sinners like us.
We love sinners who have not yet experienced the love of Christ, so that they might know it through us.
The cross compels us to see the poor and destitute with genuine compassion not just pity or contempt, because we know that we ourselves are poor and destitute. Acts of love are beautiful.
Tell me. Where else will you go to gaze upon love like this?
Where else will you go to see such a grand scene of reconciliation?
Nowhere. Do you realize that you are a part of this scene?
But have you found yourself looking on the cross with contempt trying to find love and reconciliation somewhere else? Where are you going? Even now, have you found yourself drifting away from the cross as if you no longer need it anymore? Have you allowed the voices of the world and your flesh to deemphasize the truth of the cross?Where else will you go to see such beauty such cleansing beauty? Tell me; where will you go? Where will you go to experience freedom from guilt and sin, freedom that lasts forever?
What do you find beautiful?
Oh, we plead with you our friends look to the cross again.
Has the finished work of Christ on the cross 'captured your gaze?'
Look again to the cross. Let it be the thought that consumes your mind.
Let it be the most influential factor in shaping your life.
Look! We plead. Look again to the cross, and gaze with intent on the scene.
Recommended Scripture Reading: John 19-20; Romans 6; 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:1
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