May it never be that you would boast, except in the Cross.

May it never be that you would boast, except in the Cross of your Lord Jesus Christ. No manner of execution that has ever been devised was more cruel and agonizing than to be nailed to a Cross. It was horrible. You would not have been able to watch Jesus to be nailed to it then hang there for you - not without screaming and pulling at your hair and tearing your clothes. Let this be The Passion Of Your Life.

Apart from the death of Christ, you as a sinner get nothing but judgment. Therefore everything that you enjoy in Christ - as a Christian, as a person who trusts Christ - is owing to the death of Christ. And all you’re rejoicing in all things should therefore be a rejoicing in the Cross where all your blessings were purchased for you at the cost of the death of the Son of God.

One of the reasons you are not as Christ-centered and Cross-saturated as you should be is that you have not realized that Everything – Everything good and everything bad that God turns for the good for you was purchased by the death of Christ for you. All humans simply take life and breath and health and friends and everything for granted. You think it is yours by right. But the fact is that it is not yours by right.

You are doubly undeserving of it. You are a creature and your Creator was not bound or obligated to give you anything - not life or health or anything. And besides being a created being you have no claim on the Creator, you are a sinner. You have fallen short of his glory. You have ignored him and disobeyed him and failed to love him and trust him. The wrath of his justice is kindled against you. All you deserve from him is judgment. Therefore every breath you take, every time your heart beats, every day that the sun rises, every moment you see with your eyes or hear with your ears or speak with your mouth or walk with your legs is free and undeserved gift to you a sinner who deserve only judgment.

Thank Him by bowing your head and exult in His untold mercies even of the little material things he provides. Where do all these mercies come from? You are a saved sinner, as a believer in Jesus, so they come through the Cross. Apart from the Cross, there is only judgment - Therefore every gift is a blood-bought gift. And all boasting - all exultation - is boasting in the cross.

Galatians 6:14, "May it never be that you would boast, except in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ," Scripture is saying that God's will is that the Cross be always magnified - that Christ crucified always be your boast, joy and your praise - that Christ get glory and thanks and honor for every good thing in your life - and every bad thing that God causes to turn for good.