Jesus' Creative Destruction

There is what some would call the downside to the working of the cross of Christ in a person, but if you can understand the revelation and outworking of the cross in your life, it would be embraced enthusiastically, albeit at times painfully, by all true believers in Christ.

So you understand what I mean when talking of the cross, I refer to the principle of the cross being destructive to the natural man, the old man, or what some may refer to as the "flesh" in the Holy Scriptures.

The point of that being wrought in a believer is that the old man is weakened and broken, so the life of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, can be worked into a believer. What eventually should emerge over time is the conforming to the image of Christ in a believer.

Since there is so much lingering of the old man in our flesh, Jesus must employ the tool of creative destruction - the cross - so He can manifest Himself in and through us.

Look at the first scriptures in the Bible to see how this works. Jesus working with basically a blank slate, starts to create the heavens and the earth. Because He has that clean canvas, He is able to do all sorts of interesting things to outwardly reflect eternal and invisible values.

This is what the purpose of the in working of the Cross is, to provide a canvas for Christ to paint His person on. For those willing to endure the working of the Cross, ultimately it will result in Jesus Christ Himself revealing who He is in you.

We don't have to comprehend or understand the process as we're going through it, but like Job, should have the attitude of "though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Believe me, many times you'll choke on those words if you really mean business with God; as He's more than willing to accept your invitation to creatively and practically work out the destruction associated with the purpose of the cross.

Understand that you won't know till much later, if at all, what it means, but in an unseen way, God will get what He wants in us. And in the end, that is the bottom line of the purpose for our existence.

This is what the new creation is all about: the death and destruction of the old in order to make room for the new. It happens in Christ, but is worked out practically in our lives. We must embrace the creative destruction of Christ in order to let Him perfect His work in us.