The Love Affair Starts At The Cross

By Tammy Lacock

“Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen , nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:8-9, KJV)

Christ had to die. It is with the finished work of Christ at the Cross that God’s grace can be poured out into the world. God’s grace reveals the “mystery of Christ,” that Christ is our new life, to each and every believer. 

As Warren Litzman continues his explanation of the apostle Paul’s writings of “the mystery” revealed in 1 Corinthians 2:8, he goes on to say that the knowledge of this “mystery” was not revealed to anyone other than Paul. If those before Paul had known, Christ would have not been crucified (1 Cor 2:8).

Christ had to die, for this was God’s plan before the foundation of the world. It is only now, through Paul’s epistles, that the mystery of Christ IN us is being revealed. It is only now that believers are beginning to understand what God has prepared for us. It is only now that believers are entering into a love affair with Christ. 

So how do we go about loving Him? 

The love affair starts by coming to the Cross and seeing ourselves “crucified with Christ,” the reality of our salvation. When we truly realize His grace, our spiritual death, and Christ's ultimate sacrifice, we can fall in love with God, loving Him more than we love ourselves.

Paul explains in Romans 6:6 that “our old man is crucified with him,” putting off our old lives and putting on our new man, that is Christ. He becomes our first love, our only life. 

In Galatians 2:20, Paul says it yet again, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

Now that our eyes have seen, our ears have heard, and the “mystery of Christ” has been revealed in our hearts, will you live Christ as your only life? 

Will you love Him more than yourself?