From the Cradle to the Cross to the Crown?

As you may be able to guess about me, I enjoy listening to preachers. I always take notes, and I’m always trying to learn new things about the career I find myself in. One time, I heard a preacher mention the trip that Christ took from the Cradle to the Cross to the Crown. It made me think about the way I see Christ.

Is that all His life was about? Did he only come to earth to go from the Cradle to the Cross to the Crown?

I don’t think so.

If we reduce the life of Christ to those simple three steps, we’re committing robbery.

Don’t get me wrong, I am fully willing to affirm the importance and the theological significance of those three parts of Christ’s life and death. But it seems to me that if we remove the section that happened between Cradle and Cross, we will have completely missed the point.

I refuse to believe that Christ came simply to die. Yes, I believe his death was part of the purpose for his coming. But he came with more than one purpose. He also came to teach us how to live. In fact, I think he spent a good deal of time talking about the way we should live.

As a Nazarene, the life of Christ holds an incredible amount of importance to me. Because, it is in His life where he shows the example of holiness.

Without the life of Christ, the time between the Cradle and the Cross, we would not have the example of a life lived well. We wouldn’t have the example of holiness.

When you’re thinking of Christ, don’t limit your thoughts of him to “Baby Jesus” (As Ricky Bobby so wonderfully showed us), and don’t focus your vision of Jesus as a man dying on the Cross. Instead, focus on a life well lived. Focus on the perfect example of holiness.

And while you focus on Christ’s life, ask God to make you more and more like Christ every day.