The Wondrous Cross

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

Singing this hymn in church on Good Friday reminded me of when I was a child. I used to hear this  song at church and from my Sweet Mum of blessed memory singing in her high soprano voice at home. 

I wondered about that last line of this verse which in my little ears sounded like “and Paul contend on all my pride” . I wondered what Apostle Paul had to do with all my pride!  😃😃😃

Off course as I got to know the lyrics I knew better! 😃

My richest gain I count but loss…the hymn writer reminds us that nothing we have or will ever have or achieve can compare to the excellency of knowing Christ. 

At the cross, we see a King become a servant, we see  God take the place of mortal man and exchange His royalty for our human frailty! 

At the cross we see the absurdity of God’s love for us! The sinless one took the place of the sinner, and the sentence of the guilty was passed on to the innocent, spotless Lamb of God!

No sacrifice is laid on the altar without blood being shed. God’s love was a bloody affair! Jesus had to bleed for my sins to be washed away! And the blood He shed established a new covenant for all who run to seek refuge in Him! 

When I consider that the Word through whom all things were created became flesh, that the Lord of all the Universe, the King Eternal, stepped into our time capsule in order to redeem us, I can’t find words enough to express my gratitude! 

Thank you Lord for the cross!

Thank you for your blood!

Thank you for the empty tomb! 

For with power you broke through to secure our victory! 

Confronted with the love of Christ at the cross, my pride is challenged. Who am I? I was an undeserving sinner yet He chose to take my place and brought me from darkness into light that I may declare His praises on the earth! 

All I have, all I ever will be, I owe it to the One who loved me enough to stare death in the face, succumb to its power and then break free of its hold to give me life and life abundantly! 

I will give my best to the One who saw my sin and shame and said to me; “Daughter, neither do  I condemn you, go and sin no more”!

Lord, here I am, casting my crowns at your feet, laying my life on your altar, let my life bring you glory! 

“We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. 
Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. 
They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true. 
Still, it’s what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And GOD’s plan will deeply prosper through him.“

Isaiah 53:6-10