Scripture reading: I Peter 4:1–2

Cross Purposes

What Peter Might Have Thought as He Remembered the Cross

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,

leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (I Peter 2:21)

On Calvary’s hill, just out of town My shattered world was upside down.

It felt like all I knew was cursed And all my plans had been reversed!

I’d turned my back on everything So I could follow this new king;

I thought that he would be the key To comfort and prosperity.

And now he’s there! Exposed! The shame!

Is this the reason that he came? Is this a joke? Some cruel mistake?

The world’s Messiah on a stake!

But in the darkness of this hour I catch a glimmer of his power:

The power of love that took our hate And did not once retaliate.

Such things are much too vast for me I wonder if I’ll ever see;

For it is hard to understand

The sovereign power of nail-pierced hand.

Help me Lord to comprehend That in your death my life begins! It seems like such a contradiction

That blessing comes from malediction.

But in your brokenness is health And in your poverty my wealth. Your death has brought to me my life

The war you fought has calmed my strife.

And so dear Lord, to you I pray For light to clarify my way;

So that the cross would be the norm And all my life be cruciform.

The cross, the cross! It’s only here That everything in life is clear.

Thank you, Lord, you drank the cup, At last, my world is right side up!

We are too much given to thinking of the cross as something we have to get through;

we get through it only in order to get into it.—Oswald Chambers

point to ponder • The Gospel announces two crosses, not just one.

prayer focus • For God’s help today in embracing your cross instead of resisting it.