Reading: The Cross of Christ, pg. 267-274
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 9.23-26
The cross revolutionizes our attitude to ourselves as well as to God. So the community of the cross, in addition to being a community of celebration, is also a community of self-understanding. This may sound like a reversion to individualism. But it should not be so, since self-understanding is with a view to self-giving. How can one give what one does not know one has? That is why the quest for one’s own identity is essential. pg. 267
How then should we regard ourselves? How can we renounce the two extremes of self-hatred and self-love, and neither despise nor flatter ourselves? How can we avoid a self evaluation that is either too low or too high, and instead obey Paul’s admonition “think of yourself with sober judgment” (Rom 12.3)? The cross of Christ supplies the answer, for it calls us both to self-denial and self-affirmation. | Stott pg. 269
Christians like all people tend toward either self-hatred or self-love. How does Jesus example and His work on the cross free us from both?
Lord, teach me to regard myself as you see me. Help me to not fall into the trap of thinking too much of myself, nor fall into hating myself, but to know that at the foot of Your cross come great humility and great honor. Amen