Room at the Cross

"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14)

Ira Stanphill is well-remembered as a traveling evangelist and musician of the 20th century who was privileged to write more than 500 gospel songs. In 1946 he was preaching in a revival meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, and as was his custom, asked the members of the congregation to submit suggested gospel themes or song titles. As they would present to him their favorite ideas, he would select from them and proceed to write a gospel song based on the suggested titles selected.

On that particular evening he was thumbing through the titles and came across the words "Room at the Cross for You." These words struck a chord in his heart and before the service was over, Stanphill had written the lyrics to the hymn that we know and love so well today.

The cross upon which Jesus died is a shelter in which we can hide;
And its grace so free is sufficient for me, and deep is its fountain as wide as the sea.
There's room at the cross for you, there's room at the cross for you;
Though millions have come, there's still room for one,
Yes, there's room at the cross for you.

Some time later a young man in great despair of life, intending that very evening to take his own life with a pistol he carried in his pocket, found himself walking near a church where a worship service was in progress. He heard the music director singing the words of Stanphill's great hymn, Room at the Cross, and was so gripped by the message that he made his way into the church. That night he found Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord and was gloriously saved. Later he studied for the gospel ministry and became an evangelist himself. It is said that a motion picture was eventually made of that man's life since the day when the words of the hymn, Room at the Cross, pointed him to Christ and delivered his life and his soul.

The Apostle Paul declared boldly that he could never boast in anything in this life except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and its redeeming power in his own life. He further declared that to him the world was nothing and that he had died to it as well. His one aim in life was to live for Jesus Christ and to let everyone know that there is still today "room at the cross" for any and all who will come to Jesus by faith.

May our lives as Christians today ever reflect that same wonderful message - "Though millions have come, there is still room for one. Yes, there's room at the cross for you"!

Ron