"The Splendid Horror Of The Cross Along The Way"

There is THE way to redemption and the cross of Christ is positioned prominently so that all must deal with it.

If we are starting out at "Point A", which would be our total and complete lostness and separation from God, and we are moving to "Part B", which is our final destination of either redemption or perdition, we must deal with the Cross.

It is along the Way. It's the Cross along the Way. It's the Cross of the Way. 

It's not a pleasant sight. It's violent. Heinous. Bloody. Torturous.

I call it "The Splendid Horror".

It's all the things that a person on the journey must confront and acknowledge if they are going to make the choice that all of manking has been given to make.

We are going to deal with Jesus willfully in the present, or He will deal with us at the end. When it is too late.

Paul used to persecute the Way of the Cross. Then He was confronted with it and had to decide.

Just like me. Just like you.

Galatians 6:14 (AMP) - "But far be it from me to glory [in anything or anyone] except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) through Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!"

That's what I have chosen. Just sayin'.

I didn't go around it. I didn't climb over it. I didn't take the other path.

I stopped and stared. I looked. I marveled. I broke. 

Now I glory. It's all that matters. I have been changed. I have allowed all my former passions and sinfulness to be nailed to the Cross with Jesus. The world and all it's temptations. My entire relationship to the world, and it to me, all crucified.

You really have to stop and look. You can't scoot by and think the more sterile environment of the Empty Tomb will suffice. There is nothing before the Cross, and there would be nothing if not for the Cross.

You have to stop. You have to confront. You have to look at it and then decide if it's redemption or perdition.

I have seen the darting eyes. The uncomfortable twitching and shifting. It's humbling to think that Someone would do that for you. Especially God. 

But He did. And He will not let you get to where you are headed without dealing with it. It has a way of tinkering with your comfort zone.

Yes, be horrified by it. But then understand its purpose.

Colossians 1:20 (AMP) - "And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross."

 Peace by the Blood of the Lamb. Not the blood of men.

The Cross is our reconciliation to God. There is no redemption without it.

Deal with it. Take off the shades. Look at it squarely in all of its splendid horror.

Look at it and be transformed.

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><