September 9, 2025
- djohnstoncc
- Sep 9
- 2 min read
THE CROSS TRANSFORMS
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.”
Galatians 6:14-15 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
I love a good redemption story—the frog becoming a prince, the servant becoming royalty. Those stories stir hope in us because they point to the possibility of beauty rising out of ashes.
Paul points us to the greatest redemption story ever told when he writes: ‘As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Galatians 6:14).
In our day, the cross has become a piece of jewelry, often studded with diamonds or worn as a fashionable symbol. But in Paul’s day, the cross was anything but glamorous. It was a tool of torture, shame, and a slow, excruciating death.
Yet through Jesus’ death, that symbol of pain was forever transformed into a symbol of victory and life. The cross became the centerpiece of God’s redemption story—the place where sin was defeated, Satan was disarmed, and freedom was secured.
Warren Wiersbe put it this way: “The cross meant liberty: from self (Galatians 2:20), the flesh (Galatians 5:24), and the world (Galatians 6:14). The power of the cross allows us wonderful deliverance and victory.”
That is why Paul says what really matters is not outward rituals like circumcision, but whether we have been made new. The cross is not just something Jesus carried—it is something He calls us to carry as well. In Mark 8, Jesus says we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. That means each day we choose to surrender our pride, our will, our selfish desires, and let the Holy Spirit shape us into Christ’s image.
At the cross, we die to self. But in that dying comes transformation. Out of the ashes of our sin and failure, God raises us into His victory, shaping us daily into a new creation.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit, help me to yield every part of my life to You. Teach me to take up my cross daily, to remember the sacrifice of Jesus, and to walk in the freedom and victory of His love. Amen.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”
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