The World Is Crucified to Me, and I to the World

“But far be it from me that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Gal. 6:14. The cross of Christ is truly the only thing worth glorying in, because on this cross our old man was once crucified, and on this cross we all have a chance to be crucified! We have only to take advantage of the opportunity.

Thus a blessed and powerful double crucifixion takes place: I crucify the world (reject it), and as a result the world crucifies me (rejects me). This is how I get rid of the world. I put a desirable and sufficient distance between it and me! Thus a gulf comes between the world with its passions and my new “passions”—a passion for the things of God, the things that are eternal, instead of the temporal things.

Oh, how good and necessary this crucifixion is! Most of God’s children experience untold misery in their hearts and lives because the reality of this crucifixion is missing. They certainly do not have the understanding that Paul had. On the contrary, they live with the terrible, gross misunderstanding that they should keep themselves as close to the world as possible without actually falling completely into it. They imagine that there are many advantages in doing so. But alas, alas! Just the opposite is true!