Turn Your Eyes to the Calvary Road
When everything inside you longs for greatness, think of the Calvary road.
Walk next to your savior as he sets out under the weight of the cross, bruised and beaten, heading to a hill on which he will die.
Listen to the mocking crowds exclaim, “Crucify him,” (John 19:15) as he stumbles along the dusty road. Read the sign that states, “King of the Jews” (John 19:19). Yet notice there is no sign of royalty in this place.
With tears in your eyes, you stare upon the bloodstained face of your Savior, and you drop to your knees in awe of him. Broken and worn, he keeps walking toward the hill, eyes fixed on his final, greatest act. Yet in this moment he is stripped of all glory. And he will die like a criminal, like one who has no worth.
As your heart burns in anguish, you sink lower to your knees, knowing there is absolutely no one else like him on this earth. You sit stunned, realizing that nothing could have stopped him from arriving at this place. Nothing could have stopped him from dying for you there.
The Anguish and Wonder of Christ’s Sacrifice
This agonizing, yet glorious road to Calvary leaves us humbled and awed. It strips away all of our pride and leaves us longing to honor our savior, who never set out to seek great things for himself.
Indeed, the bloodstained cross of Jesus still calls out to us today: “Stop seeking greatness on this earth!”
Oh that we would walk on the Calvary road with no thought of ourselves! That we would live to know nothing…except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2)!
To honor him in such a way, we must pick up our cross and follow Jesus to that very same hill. It will not always be a glorious road—yet when our weak and humble souls meet the greatness of God, heaven will come to life on this earth.
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). John 19:17
He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:8 NLT
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14
Here on Good Friday, Sometimes I wonder what is good about it, and then I read your Good Friday devotion and It all comes back to me. I’m striving to be a better person. Your devotion helps.