Coddled or Crucified?

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6)

The spiritual giants of old would not take their religion the easy way nor offer unto God that which cost them nothing. They sought not comfort but holiness, and the pages of history are still wet with their blood and their tears.

We now live in softer times. Woe unto us, for we have become adept in the art of comforting ourselves without power. Those who will justify themselves in that kind of dodging are not likely to be much affected by anything I can say or write.

But to those who will hear I would say with all the urgency at my command: Though the Cross of Christ has been beautified by the poet and the artist, the avid seeker after God is likely to find it the same savage implement of destruction it was in the days of old. The way of the Cross es still the pain-wracked path to spiritual power and fruitfulness.

So do not seek to hid from it. Do not accept an easy way. Do not allow yourself to be patted to sleep in a comfortable church, void of power and barren of fruit.

Let the Cross slay you utterly. Seek God. Seek to be holy and fear none of those thing which thou shalt suffer.

~A. W. Tozer~