Sunday, June 12, 2011

Looking at the Cross: A Basic Christian Discipline

In commenting and reflecting on Romans 8.31-39 N. T. Wright states:
The greatest theme of the paragraph is the love of God.  This topic is a vast sea to put into a small bottle; far better to swim in it or to set sail upon it.  Paul speaks of God's love as the ultimate security.  Learning to look at the cross and to see there the strong evidence of how much one is loved is among the most basic and vital Christian disciplines, matched by opening one's heart and life to the tidal wave of that love, displacing all other rivals.  The mind is to learn, and the heart is to know in experience, 'the love of Christ which passes knowledge' (Eph 3:19).  If Christian ministry does nothing but help, encourage, and enable people along these paths, it will have done well.  Romans (NIB) pp. 617-618--emphasis added.
We must diligently learn to look at the cross.  This is an aggressive faith fueled by grace that brings ones gaze to dwell again and again on the cross as the focal point of God's love for us.  This is part of the process by which we become "convinced" (Rom 8.38) of the Father's unshakeable, unbreakable love for us in Christ Jesus.