The Cross of Christ

During Lent this year, I have decided to read John Stott's book, The Cross of Christ.  This book is on my "Top 10 Books I Frequently Recommend, But Have Never Actually Read" list (I will most likely post the other 9 books on the list sometime soon).  In preparation for several different sermons and a systematic theology class I taught last fall,  I read and referred to pertinent sections of the book, but I have never actually read the entire thing from front to back.  I am excited to read and pray through this great work and share thoughts and reflections on this blog as I move through the coming weeks of Lent.  To that end, here are a couple of great thoughts worth reflecting on : 

"...the cross transforms everything.  It gives us a new, worshipping relationship to God, a new and balanced understanding of ourselves, a new incentive to give ourselves in mission, a new love for our enemies, and a new courage to face the perplexities of suffering." (p. 17) 

"In daring to write (and read) a book about the cross, there is of course a great danger of presumption.  This is partly because what actually happened  when "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ" is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing; and partly because it would be most unseemly to feign a cool detachment as we contemplate Christ's cross.  For, whether we like it or not, we are involved.  Our sins put him there.  So, far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness.  We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.  And there we remain until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts his word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by his love and full of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in his service." (p. 18)

I pray that as I reflect on the cross this Lenten season, that the Holy Spirit would move powerfully in my heart and fill me with overflowing gratitude and passion to live my own life in Jesus' service.