Understanding 'The Calvary Perspective'

Every year Christians around the world faithfully mark the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
More than a moment in history, it is a perspective for living that nurtures compassion and inspires action for the enrichment of mankind.
No man fought harder to abolish slavery in England than William Wilberforce, whose awesome story is being told in the movie "Amazing Grace." What he understood about the cross and the self-denying virtues they represent gave him the strength to introduce anti-slavery measures in the British Parliament year after year for 40 years, until finally, the dream was fulfilled.
Jim Elliott and his young colleagues, whose story also is being told in the film, "The End of the Spear," was killed in the jungles of Ecuador by the very people whom he blessed with the gospel and a better quality of life. Later, their wives and children dared to live among them to complete their husbands' mission.
It was a mind-boggling display of self-denial that moved the world. But understand, sacrifice like that doesn't flow from a "feel good" way of life. They shared a source of power with Wilberforce that emerged from a profound understanding of the cross that I call "The Calvary Perspective." They had it. We need it. And we can get it ... at the cross.
Global vs. personal
It must be said that Americans as a society are exemplary in response to national calamities. Multiplied millions of contributed dollars and thousands of volunteers poured into disaster areas are testament to the fact. But our track record of response as individuals to personal challenges is another story.
We have a big problem with retaliation in our one-on-one relationships. Without a personal "Calvary Perspective," it's much easier to shovel debris with a crowd in Katrina's wake than cut some slack to a bumbler who cuts in front of your car en route to New Orleans.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..." (Galatians 2:20). He is telling us he internalized personally what he knew historically about the cross of Christ, and it empowered him to live sacrificially rather than selfishly. He caught a vision greater than himself, and it translated his entire life into productive, though not painless, self-denial.
Paul took it on the chin many times, but there were times he dug-in with the tenacity of a pit bull. He would be neither a push-over, nor would he vindictively strike back. He knew when to take the spear like an Elliot or take the stand like a Wilberforce. There's something mysteriously powerful about getting Paul's perspective on the cross. In fact, it's so fundamental to genuine Christianity, Paul urgently appealed to early Roman Christians -- and to us -- "present your bodies a living sacrifice ... unto God."
A simple test
It's doubtful Christians today will be thrown to the lions in a Roman coliseum or hung on a cross for a Nero's pleasure. Whether we are willing to be living sacrifices unto God will be tested, therefore, in more mundane settings. For example, how do you react:
When a neighbor regularly drops his trash on your driveway and won't pick it up?
When that same neighbor needs someone to drive him to the hospital and no one else is around but you?
When the Little League umpire makes a wrong call on your son?
When your children or students won't listen?
When a client refuses to pay his bills on trumped-up complaints?
When your employer doesn't give you the bonus you earned?
Not earth-shaking situations, to be sure. But this is the arena where one shows who's got it and who doesn't. If your instinct is fight or flight, a closer look at Calvary seems well advised.
A.W. Tozer asserts reactions to offense and inconvenience often are wrong because we've chosen to live by a new cross that requires neither self-denial nor consideration of others. By contrast, the old cross put steel in the spine of an otherwise self-serving human being and stirred the faithful to achieve the impossible regardless of the obstacles. We need to regain that perspective.
Through the magic of virtual reality, a skilled computer graphics artist can suspend the image of a cross in front of another object in such a way that the viewer can see right through the cross without either distorting or obscuring the object. May I suggest that we should live so that we can envision the cross super-imposed upon every person, event and circumstance that challenges us. Then we can more easily find the resources needed to follow our Lord's directive when he said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). "The Calvary Perspective" will make a difference.
The Rev. Guy BonGiovanni, who holds a doctor of ministry degree from Logos Graduate School in Jacksonville, Fla., is president of Life Enrichment Ministries Inc., Canfield.