Glory in the cross

Galatians 1:4-5 "Who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever."

I often tease among family and friends that those of us who call the Pacific Northwest our home are to be commended for selecting such a beautiful place to live. My father, who cruised the Pacific during World War II and traveled the U.S. extensively in his career, often noted it was always his plan to live out his life on Fidalgo Island. "It doesn't get any better than this," he would say as he sipped a cup of coffee on the deck of his home while scanning a horizon that featured majestic Mt. Baker.

I was reminded the other day, however, while reading an 1886 sermon by the Rev. Charles Spurgeon, that all must look one place only for the true glory of God.

"Has the Father given His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us?" asked Spurgeon. "Then there is glory enough in Jesus Christ upon the cross to last through eternity. Fix your eye upon the bleeding Savior; behold the glorious justice of God in laying guilt on Him, and punishing it on Him, and behold also the inconceivable love of God in thus putting His only begotten to death that we might live through Him. You need not range the world around to see the glory of God in nature, though that is a delightful employment, for there is enough glory in the cross of Christ to last throughout all eternity."