THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

As I have just celebrated another birthday, another year passed.  And as my senior years progress my mind goes back to the years past and wonder where they have gone.   I have had so many blessings in my life and yes, there have been struggles along the way, pain and sorrow. 

But the Lord has been so good to me, sending me a wonderful husband, who loves and cherishes me daily, and my beautiful daughters and their love and now five grandchildren and even one great grandson.  And how thankful I am for my Christian brothers and sisters in the Lord, as we uphold one another in prayer.  And like the Word says, “when one suffers we all suffer.”

And then there are my precious sisters, who I love and cherish and so many memories of our childhood and later years.  I am so thankful for my precious mother, now with Jesus, who taught me about Jesus, giving me back to the Lord at two weeks of age, and then marrying into a Christian family, with a godly husband.  I am truly blessed!

But over my life down through the years, even in those times when I strayed, was the shadow of the cross.  And the tears come as I think of how the Lord has walked with me through tough times, because He has been there and He knows our pain.  It is all because of the cross of Calvary.

That “Old Rugged Cross” points back in time to the promises of coming redemption, to His death on the cross, fulfilling those prophecies and then on into the future, pointing to a glorious future with Him for eternity.  I have tears just singing this song or reading the words, they mean so much to me.  And I remember so well hearing this often as a child.  I wish we would sing it more often to remember that it is all about the cross and our salvation and the sacrifice of our Precious Lord.

It is Easter time once again, the world is seeking bunnies, eggs, new clothes and the like, but it is time we get our mind off those things for a moment and go back to the cross, “The Old Rugged Cross.”

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suff’ring and shame;

And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best

For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain:

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,

Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it someday for a crown.

Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

Has a wondrous attraction for me;

For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above

To bear it to dark Calvary.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,

A wondrous beauty I see,

For ‘twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,

To pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;

Its shame and reproach gladly bear;

Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away,

Where His glory forever I’ll share.

(George Bennard-1913)

In our latest Bible Study, the ladies and I are studying the scenes of our Lord leading up to the cross, and our minds are trying to comprehend what Jesus was going through as He sat with His disciples at the Last Supper and then His agony in the garden, knowing what was ahead.  He took the Cup of Redemption at that supper and passed it around but did not partake as He would take that cup and drink of it in the garden.  He asked His Father to take that cup away from Him if possible, but He would drink of it for you and for me.  He knew the agony that was ahead on the cross, but He bore that agony for this world of lost sinners.  We cannot comprehend the agony He must have gone through and knowing exactly what they would do to Him, but oh, He loved us so much!

When I think of the cross, I also think of the crosses we bear each day.  Remember what Jesus said in Luke 9:23: “And he said to them all, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” What is the cross you are bearing today?  Is it a body filled with pain, a troubled marriage, unsaved children, financial worries.  Some of us senior adults have lost our hearing or part of it, our bodies are stiff with pain and we have faced illness and loss of strength.

But someday, after we have walked with Jesus, and daily carried our “crosses” to the Lord, whatever they may be, we will lay those down, after all the years of clinging to that “Old Cross.”  And He promises His faithful ones a Crown of Life! (James 1:12).  And I look forward to that day, a day of joy, when old things pass away and our new life begins forever with Jesus.

So at this Easter season, look to the Cross.  Yes, it was an emblem of shame and suffering, but our Lord bore it all for you and for me.  And remember it was Friday, but Sunday was coming, His glorious resurrection!  So celebrate “Resurrection Sunday” with joy in your heart and Praise His Wonderful Name for the cross of redemption and our salvation.

In the Name of Jesus,

Pastor Sharon