MAY 29

I, CRUCIFIED UNTO THE WORLD

“Yet God forbid that I should boast about anything or anybody except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, which means that the world is a dead thing to me and I am a dead man to the world.”

One translation reads, “Because of that cross my interest in all the attractive things of the world has been killed long ago.” The world can no longer interest you, for you do not belong to its realm, you are not of its kind, your citizenship is in another kingdom, God’s. So you are ignored, passing through unnoticed, as if you do not exist. Why then try to seek for its applause?” No need to put on a grandstand play for the dead corpse of the world, it will not rise to applaud you. When He causes the world to be crucified to you, it is time to forget it, and go on to find your new life in Christ, in Him alone “is fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:11).

But there is also another side to this crucifixion, for ”I am a dead man to the world.” The world’s interest in me is over. I am a mis’fit in their circles, and they do not want to know what God is doing in me. It hurt to be among acquaintances, perhaps even friends and relatives, and find they had no interest in what was happening in my life. And inwardly I wept, if only they would give a casual interest. Then the Spirit spoke this truth, “you are dead to the world.” They cannot find interest in you, for to them you are nothing, and why talk to nothing? Yes, they ask about the family, the natural things, discuss the weather, the political action, but your real inner life is foreign to them. But the more we are crucified with Christ, the less it hurts to be ignored, shunned, and esteemed of no report.

And though we wonder why a stranger we become
To all the world around, and even dead to some,
It is because in Christ, we, too, are crucified,
The world to me, and yes, unto the world I died.
We cannot pine again for things that used to be,
The old must pass away – now is reality.