# “That is the God for me!” by John Stott

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2009/09/17/that-is-the-god-for-me-by-john-stott/
- Published: 2009-09-17T00:43:19-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross… In the real 
world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered 
many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before
the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a
smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies
of the world.

But each time after a while I have to turn away. And in imagination I have turned
instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands
and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth
dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness.

That is the God for me! He laid aside His immunity to pain. He entered our world
of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more
manageable in light of His.”

—John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 
335-336.

[HT: [Tony Reinke](http://spurgeon.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/calvary-and-the-real-world/)]

More quotes from [John Stott](https://tollelege.net/category/john-stott/) · More
on [Suffering](https://tollelege.net/category/suffering/)