“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.” - Galatians 6:14 NLT
Paul ends Galatians with a battle cry.
He says he is done with the religious games, the self-effort, the spiritual ego, and the constant pressure to perform.
He has only one thing worth boasting about, the cross of Jesus Christ.
Paul uses the strongest Greek rejection in the New Testament, “may I never.”
He is violently rejecting the idea that his identity could ever be built on anything but Christ.
No achievements, no reputation, no spiritual image, no success, no approval.
Only the cross.
To Paul, the cross is not a symbol.
It is the place where the old him died and the new him began.
It is the dividing line that cut him free from the world’s value system.
He says the “world” has been crucified to him, and he has been crucified to the world.
That means the world no longer defines him, controls him, claims him, or sets the standards he lives by.
He is dead to the scoreboard of this age, and alive to Christ alone.
This is what Paul is really saying in plain language.
“I am done living for people’s approval. I am done finding identity in performance or image.
The cross killed all of that.
The world is not my master anymore. I belong to Jesus.”
The cross destroys comparison, pride, insecurity, self-righteousness, and every attempt to prop up your own worth.
You cannot boast in you and boast in Christ at the same time.
The cross frees you from fear.
The cross breaks the world’s grip.
The cross creates a new allegiance.
The cross marks the end of self and the beginning of real life.
A man who boasts only in the cross is a man the world cannot control.
He lives for obedience, not applause.
For eternity, not the moment.
For Christ, not culture.
Rise to what matters.
Die to what does not.
Live like a man who knows the cross is the only thing worth bragging about.