When I look at the Apostle Paul’s life and accomplishments I am amazed. When God sent him off to be the Messenger to the Gentiles, to those outside the nation of Israel, no one would have thought that he could have accomplished what he did. Yes, he did have helpers, Luke, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus to name but a few. He, however, was the tip of the spear that carried the message of Christ’s cross throughout the known world and saw that world change in the span of one generation.
His prayers, his desires, his thoughts are plainly evident in his writings, and are summed up truly in that one verse at the end of Galatians. “But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [Gal 6:14 HCSB]
For Paul, it was all about Jesus. He lived what John the Baptizer prayed, He must increase, I must decrease. Paul set such a high mark, such an illustrious example for us to follow.
What does it matter if we preach to thousands or a few? What does it matter if we are called to a national platform, or minister in a rural setting? What does it matter if we touch people in churches, or hospitals, or homes, or in the marketplace? What does it matter if we take the message of the cross to small babes in Sunday School or the elderly in assisted living facilities?
What matters is that we truly find our boasting not in what we do or where we go, but in the message we bring … the message of the cross. The importance is found in what our Savior did, in how God came down from His throne and got His feet dusty on this earth. The amazing thing is that cross where the blood of Christ was spilled.
May we never boast in anything other than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
