No one wants to die on a cross-until he comes to the place where he is desperate for the highest will of god in serving jesus christ. The apostle paul said, "i want to die on the cross and i want to know what it is to die there, because if i die with him i will also know him in a better resurrection" (see philippians 3:10-11). Paul was not saying, "he will raise me from the dead"-for everyone will be raised from the dead. He said, "I want a superior resurrection, a resurrection like christ's." Paul was willing to be crucified with christ, but in our day we want to die a piece at a time, so we can rescue little parts of ourselves from the cross.
People will pray and ask god to be filled-but all the while there is that strange ingenuity, that contradiction withon which prevents our wills from stirring to the point of letting god have his way.
Those who live in the state of perpetual contradiction cannot be happy christians. A man who is always on the cross, just piece after piece, cannot be happy in that process. But when that man takes his place on the cross with jesus christ once and for all, and commends his spirit to god, lets go of everything and ceases to defend himself-sure, he has died, but there is a ressurection that follows!
If we are willing to go this route of victory with jesus christ, we cannot continue to be mediocre christians, stopped halfway to the peak. Until we give up our own intrests, there will never be enough stirring with in our beings to find his highest will.
A.W. Tozer
The Radical Cross
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