#cruciformity

This Sunday’s sermon still echoes in my soul. It centered on David’s anguished cry in Psalm 6: “How long, Lord, how long?!”—a question that feels intensely personal, especially when prayers go unanswered and breakthroughs remain elusive. Yes, those are real and valid heartaches. But as a leader, what hit me harder was this: I scanned the morning headlines and found myself weeping—not for myself, but for a world unraveling. I cried, “How long, Lord?”

We beg God to fix the mess—corruption, conflict, climate, crooked politicians. We demand heavenly reform. But then I hear God’s quiet whisper; And heaven replied—not with thunder or lightning, but with a whisper: “Let us start—with you.”“Excellent idea. Let us start with you.”

Not the response I was hoping for. Like the disciples in Luke 9:54, we often want fire from heaven. What we get instead is conviction in the mirror. Philippians 2 does not call us to demand reform in others—it calls us to be reformed ourselves. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

Christlikeness is not a platform. It is cruciformity—a daily dying to our pride, opinions, and self-importance. Real transformation is not loud; it is often lonely. It is not staged for applause, but shaped in surrender.

Jesus changed the world not with protests but with pierced hands. He did not post slogans—He poured water and washed feet. He did not seek a throne; He bore a cross.

So next time you plead with God to change the world, prepare to be the starting point. He may hand you not a microphone, but a cross.

Because when Christlikeness is the strategy, cruciformity is the path. You want a new world? Be a new creation.

My pastor gave us "The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name" as a gift for our son. It is a beautifully illustrated book with the Bible stories engagingly told. My son enjoyed the stories I read to him from it and, as usual, wanted me to keep rereading David and Goliath - he loves that story in all the children's Bibles we have, even though I'd prefer it if he liked something less violent.

It might seem that there isn't much more that could be said in this review, but there are rather important caveats about this book that prevent me from giving it my full recommendation. In the description of the book, it says: "While other Kids’ Bibles contain stories from the Old and New Testaments, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible, pointing to Jesus as our Savior." This may sound harmless enough, but what this means in practice is that it is not a simplification of Scripture, but an embellishment that adds its own narrative on top of the Bible stories.

Positively, the addition of more text about God's emotions can make the text more appealing to children. Unfortunately, the author goes well beyond this to weaving her interpretation into the stories. Even those that agree with her theology may find the augmentation of the word of God unacceptable. From a cruciform point of view given the perspective she has taken, it is certainly a problem and something to consider if you're investigating children's Bibles to purchase.

This book is the number one best seller in the "Christian Home Schooling" category on Amazon and is highly recommended by Timothy Keller, whose wife was "theological consultant" to the author. Hence the book has strong Reformed/Calvinist leanings. Given the overall quality of the book, I could look past my disagreements with this viewpoint, but I struggled when I read the crucifixion story. It says:

"...it seemed that the whole world would break. That creation itself would tear apart.

The full force of the storm of God's fierce anger at sin was coming down. On his own Son. Instead of his people. It was the only way God could destroy sin, and not destroy his children whose hearts were filled with sin."

The above is classic Penal Substitutionary Atonement which has been threaded directly into the retelling of the crucifixion. It makes it seem like this theory is directly written rather than inferred by its supporters from Bible verses and bypasses the centuries of debate about this subject. This is deeply unfortunate and discourages me from reading that crucially important story to my son.

Nailing It Nailing It, Nicole Massie Martin (foreword by Carey Nieuwhof). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514009741) 2025. Summary: A challenge to nail “leadership as usual” to the cross, embracing Jesus’ way of suffering service, and the hope of resurrection. “Nailing it.” Typically, the phrase suggests decisively achieving a goal, perhaps with a “take no prisoners” mentality. I think of the…

Just watched again the movie Tolkien. And seen afresh how the lies and propaganda of war are used to murder and maim innocent men, women (and children for that matter). How war perpetuates war and damage. When will humanity learn war and violence is not the way? That what we sow we reap? To get peace you sow peace! That is the message of the cross. God allowing our warmongering. And forgiving;…

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