By aiming through the cross I hit the target!
Our target should be nothing less than doing the will of our heavenly father and finishing his work!
Aim through the Cross
April 2007
Andre Pelser

I asked the Lord how I would be able to discern false teachings from the true ones. He showed me the hairline on a telescopic lens of a rifle and told me to, ‘Aim through the Cross!’ Since then it has been easy for me to discern false teachings: if the Cross of Christ is not central to the teaching it is false!

Someone once remarked that there are many false Christ’s, but not many false Jesus’!
The reason is simple: the meaning of Christ is ‘anointed’ and the meaning of Jesus is ‘Saviour’. Many people want to have the anointing, but not many want to lay down their lives to save others!

If you aim through the cross you hit your target! This wisdom applies in every area of our lives. Self-sacrifice is the key to success! If you are willing to give yourself entirely to something and do it wholeheartedly, it should succeed.
Commitment
Motivation comes before commitment. Once you are committed to air you do not need motivation to dive any more! Companies and churches that have to continually motivate their staff or members are obviously struggling with the level of commitment among them!
You actually do not need someone to motivate you to do something you are laying your life down for! You have already gone beyond motivation. True commitment as we teach in Harvester’s foundation course is like diving off a diving board or like committing an aeroplane to the air: there is no turning back! Only in cartoons can the characters turn back in mid-air, but not in real life.

A friend of mine in Port Elizabeth told me the story about an Afrikaans guy who wanted to go out with an English girl he had just met. The problem was that he could not speak a word of English. So my friend taught him a few sentences to get him going: ‘Good evening! How are you? Can I come in?’
The young man rehearsed these sentences over and over again and then my friend took him to the door of the girl’s house. He wanted to make sure everything worked out for the guy and waited with the car idling. But he could overhear the conversation. The girl opened the door and said, ‘Good evening! How are you? Please come in!’
The young man was flabbergasted because the girl used up all the sentences he knew! All he could think of was, ‘Congratulations!’ and shook her hand and turned round and came back to the car, ‘Let’s go! She said everything I know!’ That was the end of that relationship!

All the motivation in the world could not keep that guy at the door! There was no commitment yet, only motivation!
The sign of Jonah
Think of Jonah (His name means dove). He needed motivation to go to Nineveh to warn them from coming disaster. He hated the people in Nineveh for what they have done to his nation and refused to go and warn them so that they may have a chance to escape the wrath of God. Instead he went in the opposite direction. But when a storm came up and the sailors said someone on the boat has brought this curse upon them, he conceded and acknowledged his disobedience to the command of God. He told them to throw him overboard and the storm would cease!

Many people know they are causing the problems at home, in the business or in the church but they are disobedient and lack motivation to change. It is in a crisis that our true colours and true motivations show! Under pressure ‘the real you’ comes out!

So when they threw him overboard he thought he was going to drown, but mercifully, God sent a big fish to swallow him! He spent three days in the belly of the whale. This typifies the three days Jesus spent in the grave, in the belly of the earth, and Jonah’s life became an example of the suffering of Christ to the world! Amazing! When the dove that represented the Holy Spirit came out of the sky and sat upon Jesus of Nazareth when he was baptized by John in the river Jordan, everyone should have recognized the sign of Jonah whose name means dove. But they didn’t. Only John did. The next sign of Jonah was three days in the belly of the earth!

After three days the big fish spewed Jonah out on dry land! Guess where? That’s right, in Nineveh! God’s supernatural transport system got Jonah to his destination without any motivation at all! He simply surrendered to the will of God and became willing to lay down his life to save others! He changed from trying to be an anointed Christ to becoming a lowly Jesus figure…

Artefacts do not produce inner changes
That is what the Cross of Jesus signifies! Religion makes artefacts about the cross and sells relics of wood and stone to remind people of Golgotha where Jesus was crucified for you and I. But actually the cross must become more than a symbol, more than a piece of furniture in the church – it should take up a central place in our lives! We should live a crucified life with Christ – then Jesus will be seen again!

Is the Cross central in your life? Have you surrendered to the will of God for your life? Or are you running away from the demands of the Cross? Those who save their lives will loose it, but those who are willing to loose their life for Christ and the Gospel’s sake, will find it! Those who are willing to give up their selfish, sinful life style will discover the life of Christ within; but those who insist on feeding their selfish and sinful life styles will loose the opportunity to know the greatest life ever lived, the life of Christ. The life Christ offers is called, eternal or everlasting life. Jesus overcame death by the power of and endless life!

The Instrument of Death
Matthew 27:32
Philippians 2:8
Hebrews 12:2
The Doctrine of the Cross
I Corinthians 1:17
Galatians 6:14
Ephesians 2:16
Philippians 3:18
Colossians 1:20
Colossians 2:14

The Victory over the flesh
Matthew 10:38
Matthew 16:24
Mark 10:21
Crucified to the world
Through the Cross we are crucified to the world and the world is crucified to us. The world has no effect on the lives of those people who have embraced the cross of Jesus Christ as the central point or core of their lives.

No cross; no crown!

We used to sing a hymn about the cross when I was young:
Hymn
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
An emblem of suffering and shame
But I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I’ll cherish that old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to that old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown

I believe it is okay to celebrate Easter – although Jesus never told us to do so. But Paul gives permission for those who want to keep days to do so. We are only instructed to hold communion to remember His death and resurrection. Easter has become such a religious thing that people go through the ritual of remembrance and re-enact the Passion of Christ without having the effect of a changed life. In the end they feel sorry for Jesus every year, but the life of Christ does not take root in the lives of believers! We need to reform our thinking concerning Easter so that it will once again have a life changing effect on our lives! It is the inner cross that makes the difference – not the outward one! It is not the cross around your neck that makes the difference – it is the cross that circumcised your heart that will bring the change God requires!

Today God wants to bring the total effect of the cross into our lives – if we al