GLORY IN THE CROSS---Charles Woodruff

Perhaps you need this verse today: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” Galatians 6:14). To “glory” is “to boast”. Paul here says we can boast in nothing except the cross of the Lord Jesus. All of our prosperity, all of our fame (even if yours is more than 15 minutes!), all of our accomplishments, all of our power (even if you are a senator, or president or even a king), all of our doctrinal understanding, and even all the accumulated knowledge over our lifetime is nothing to glory about. We can boast only in the cross of Christ! Glory to His name!

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

-Isaac Watts -1707

(Charles Wesley reportedly said he would give up all his other hymns to have writ­ten this one).

“Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen” (Ephesians 6:24).