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BRAINWAVES VI. Quotations
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THE CRUCIFIED LIFE
One time a young man came to an old saint who taught the deeper life, the crucified life, and said to him, "Father, what does it mean to be crucified ?" The old man thought for a moment and said, "Well, to be crucified means three things. First, the man who is crucified is facing only one direction." I like that - facing only one direction. If he hears anything behind him he can't turn around to see what's going on. He has stopped looking back. The crucified man on the cross is looking in only one direction and that is the direction of God and Christ and the Holy Ghost, the direction of Biblical revelation, world evangelisation, the edifying of the church, sanctification, and the Spirit-filled life. And the old man scratched his scraggy grey hair and said, "One thing more, son., about a man on a cross - he's not going back." When you go out to die on the cross you bid good-bye - you are not going back! If we would preach more of this and stop trying to make the Christian life so easy it's contemptible we would have more converts that would last. Get a man converted who knows that if he joins Jesus Christ he's finished, and that while he's going to come up and live anew, as far as this world's concerned he is not going back-then you have a real Christian indeed. The old man went on, "Another thing about the man on the cross, son; he has no further plans of his own." I like that. Some-body else made his plans for him, and when they nailed him up there all his plans disappeared. Oh, what busy-beaver Christians we are with all of our plans ! It is beautiful to say "I am crucified with Christ," and know that Christ is making your plans.
A. W. Tozer, Total Commitment to Christ.
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