Xanthe Hancox

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,

Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it some day for a crown.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Galatians 6:14

George Bennard spent a lot time thinking about the cross. He was an evangelist who travelled throughout the northern United States carrying out his ministry in the early 1900s. On one occasion, after returning home to Michigan, he passed through a deeply difficult experience, which caused him to spend many hours reading and meditating on the cross until he said, “I saw the Christ of the cross as if I were seeing John 3:16 leave the printed page and take form and act out the meaning of redemption.” It was during this time that the words of the hymn came to him.

One of the hymn’s central ideas is that our trophies, or treasures, in this world are temporary and cannot compare to the power of the cross or to the crown to be awarded us when we stand before Jesus, and as the last verse of the hymn says "Where his glory forever I’ll share."

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul also talks about boasting in the cross. By this, he meant taking pride in it, finding in it the reason for his joy and fulfilment, and placing great value in it. By boasting in the cross, Paul was rejecting the thought of boasting, or finding great value, in his own ability or any material treasures the world offers. He was saying that the glory of the cross supersedes everything. He could make this claim because he saw how this event—Jesus’ death on a cross—saved us from eternal death and brought us everlasting life.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. Listen to the hymn and take some time to think about the cross and its place in your life. Does that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, also have a wondrous attraction for you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw22YE-ekog

Prayer: Father, forgive me for the times I do not boast in the cross – for the times my attitudes, actions, words and deeds to not recognise the price you paid for me. Help me to live each day boasting in the cross so that my life might bring glory to you. Amen