As the Lenten season now gives way to Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter Sunday, our hearts are again lifted to the glory of the cross of Jesus Christ. That which was a sign of shame became the symbol of salvation. That which was an instrument of gruesome death became an icon of glorious new life. We receive this salvation and new life when we repent of our sin and come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Yet we, who have been His disciples, by his grace, for many years, may come to know, in some unexpected season of life, and enjoy a new measure of that salvation and a fresh sense of that new life in Jesus. Recently, after a long illness, I experienced this. This “sacred encounter,” if you will, with the living God, came to me as I was being called to lead a great seminary with a living legacy of faithfulness. I found myself too physically weak to lead. And that is when I gloried in the cross and found that my true qualification for leadership was—when I am weak then I am strong; when I glory in the cross the kingdom goes forward in Jesus’ power. I pray I never forget it. It was as life changing and liberating as my grace awakening as a young man. Perhaps it is a message that someone else needs as well. If so, I invite you to join the league of unlikely leaders who are losers in the eyes of the world, but who boast in our brokenness do that the authentic power of redeeming love is unleashed in the life of the resurrected Christ:
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV).
I wrote this song as a result of that experience of mine and out of the rich truth of this passage that I mediated upon. So we at Faith for Living now wish you happy Easter tidings with this free download of the song that I composed and recorded as I was recovering. I trust and pray that the Lord will use it in your own life as a source of devotion to Jesus Christ our Lord in this wondrous season of His resurrection. And yet, as John Donne, reminded us, “All times are His seasons.”
Please receive this new download with the prayer that Christ may be glorified and his people built up in our most holy faith.
“I Glory in the Cross,” © 2012 Words and Music by Michael Anthony Milton, Bethesda Words and Music (BMI)
