And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

As anyone who has read John Scott’s magisterial book, ‘The Cross of Christ’, will be able to attest, keeping the focus on Christ and His Cross does not necessarily mean saying the same thing over and over again. There are so many aspects to consider and potential angles of approach. The Cross is like a sparkling multi-faceted Jewel. We will find Him – we will find it – in all the Scriptures. We will, for example, find ourselves preaching the Cross if we expound Genesis, as surely as we will if we are working through the gospels and the epistles.

Nevertheless we can affirm that, although there is so much to say on the subject, the simple proclamation of the Cross is full of an immeasurable power. May God help us to keep Christ-centred and Cross-centred. It is relatively easy to get off-centre.

Prayer: Jesus keep me near the Cross…

Thought: “The law discovers the disease. The gospel (the cross and resurrection) gives the remedy.” (Martin Luther)