Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily — Reason 23: All Things Crucified (Part 1)

June 23rd. Day 23 of walking through “Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily” — Part 1 of “A Gospel Primer for Christians” by Milton Vincent.

Today’s reason — All Things Crucified, Part 1.

Today’s reason is a longer one, but it is so rich in truth and will leave you excited to hear even more tomorrow for part 2.  It today, Vincent starts with this...

“The gospel is not simply the story of ‘Christ and Him crucified’ {1 Corinthians 2:2}; it is also the story of my own crucifixion. For the Bible tells me that I, too, was crucified on Christ’s cross. {Galatians 2:20} My old self was slain there, {Romans 6:6} and my live affair with the world was crucified there too. {Galatians 6:14} The cross is also the place where I crucify my flesh and all its sinful desires. {Galatians 5:24} Truly, Christ’s death and my death are so intertwined as to be inseparable.”

Vincent goes on to say...

“God is committed to my dying every day, and He calls me to that same commitment.{Luke 9:23} He insists that every hour be my dying hour, and He wants my death on the cross to be as central to my own life story as is Christ’s death to the gospel story. ‘Let this same attitude be in you,’ He says, ‘which was also in Christ Jesus...who became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.’” {Philippians 2:5-7}

In the next three paragraphs, Vincent continues to expound upon what Christ’s crucifixion actually means for our own. How do we live it out daily? It’s not easy or pretty, but it sets us free from self, thus freeing us to love God because He first loved us and to love others because we are called to love them for Him. Stay with me. Keep reading...

“Crucifixion hurts. In fact, its heart-wrenching and brutality in Canaan the senses. It is a gas being in bloody affair, and there is nothing nice, pretty, or easy about it. It is not merely death, but excruciating death.”

“Nevertheless, I must set my face like a flint {Isaiah 50:6-7} toward the cross and embrace the crucifixion in everything I do. I should expect every day to encounter circumstantial evidence of God’s commitment to my dying; and I must seize upon every God-given opportunity to be conformed more fully to Christ’s death, no matter the pain involved.”

“When my flesh yearns for some prohibited thing, I must die. When called to do something I don’t want to do, I must die. When I wish to be selfish and serve no one, I must die. When shattered by hardships that I despise, I must die. When wanting to cling to wrongs done against me, I must die. When enticed by allurements of the world, I must die. When wishing to keep besetting sins secret, I must die. When wants that are borderline needs are left unmet, I must die. When dreams that are good seem shoved aside, I must die.”

Vincent concludes with this...

“‘Not my will, but Yours be done,’ Christ trustingly prayed on the eve of His crucifixion; {Luke 22:42, 1 Peter 2:23} and preaching His story to myself each day puts me in a frame of mind to trust God and embrace the cross of my own dying also.” {1 Peter 2:21-24, 1 Corinthians 15:31, Romans 8:36}

Today’s reason is a heavy one. We must die to self in order to live for Him. Period. There’s just no way around it, but oh the grace that abounds in it.