If anyone had cause to glory in themselves it was the apostle Paul.  His resume was akin to a Rhodes Scholar.  His influence and zeal was incomparable among his colleagues.  He was the rising star among the Pharisees, a militant adversary against the church who tried to single-handedly stop the cause of Christ.  But those things were counted as “dung” to Paul when he was converted.  Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia and said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

     Paul was stripped of those self-righteous, self-promoting, self-centered acts of the flesh when he encountered the resurrected Savior.  His view of the cross changed, and it became the central theme of his life and ministry.  Paul, the chief adversary of the church became the chief advocate of the church.  The great persecutor of Christ became the great preacher for Christ.  And his message, his boast, and his glory were all in the cross of Jesus Christ. 

     Paul carried a cross, he preached the cross, and he loved that old cross.  At the cross, man is stripped of his self-righteousness and forced to see the wrath of God upon His Own Son.  At the cross, our works, our deeds, our religion are made void.  If we glory, let us glory in the cross.