GLORY IN THE CROSS
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As we journey hard each day,
With our pack of burdens to bear;
We search and pray to find our way,
to salvation from death's evil snare.
For years we travel rough terrain,
With many storms to endure;
To no gain we fight with pain,
Searching for our poor souls' one cure.
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Then one day, as this treasure we seek,
Our hearts leap with joy divine;
For just behind a mountain peak,
The sun on our treasure does shine.
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Its rays illumine a cross alone,
Nothing more than a rough-hewn tree;
But it testifies of the one who does atone,
A sinner's sin and sets him free.
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To the world this treasure may shout,
Death, rejection and desolation;
To spectators it casts a shadow of doubt,
Is this really the answer to redemption?
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This accursed symbol,
Evokes a feeling of fear;
The cross a picture of hell,
To many people does appear.
But the cross is more than it does seem,
To a lost sinner and his deathly case;
A story is carved in this wooden beam,
A story of love and of grace.
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For on this cross, the lamb of God was slain,
His blood spilled for every nation;
He endured a death of cruelty and pain,
To bring to earth salvation.
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A picture of hell turned into heaven's gift,
As a ransom for our sin was made;
God our sin's burdens does now lift,
For our charges have been fully paid.
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Do you too travel hard each day?,
Searching for a pardon from sin?
Do you not know the way?,
To be made whole and clean within?
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Turn to the cross, my friend,
And accept God's gift so heavenly;
For forgiveness and love the cross does lend,
And from death it will set you free.
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Like that barren cross was I,
Dead in my trespasses and sin;
But then Christ for me did die,
Offering me life within.
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Now I am a new creation,
renewed in my father's love;
For because of His gift of salvation,
I will soon live with Him above.
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Only God can take our sin's ugliness,
And nail it to the cross with His hand;
For a symbol of love and forgiveness,
The cross today does stand.
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The cross to a hurting world calls out,
Through the years it rings true;
Its wooden beams echo with a shout,
As our father tells us "I love you."
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So whatever I gain, whatever my loss,
Whatever joy this life may bring;
I'll lay it all down at the foot of the cross,
And glorify Christ, my king.
While I live on earth each day,
Taking up my cross, Christ I'll follow;
I'll carry it through life's narrow way,
So others, God's mercy, might know.
For it is through Christ's death, I now live,
Through His resurrection I am free;
Everything I have to Him I'll give,
Only in the cross will I glory.
By Rachel Ambat
1/18/15