Yet many wear a cross and have no clue to its significance nor do they have a personal relationship with the Christ who died on it. I once asked a young man who was wearing a cross around his neck and also had one embedded in his ear if he knew the one who died on that cross for his sins. He looked at me puzzled and walked away.

Sadly, there are people who wear the cross as jewelry and get upset with the likes of Madonna, but they do not bear the cross or live a crucified life as Jesus calls for. We live in a society where few people know about the joy of self-sacrifice and self-denial. Many live only for themselves. Jesus was crucified because he was dangerous to the status quo. He was full of infectious, abundant life. He gave himself up to do his Father’s will long before he went to the cross. He was heard because he was authentic.

Often associated with pirates, the phrase “dead men tell no tales” meant that a dead victim was better than a live one, because the dead couldn’t testify in court. Whether pirates actually used this phrase is unknown. Charles Ellms, the author of Pirates Own Book (1837), used it when describing pirates who hunted in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. They murdered sailors and passengers alike “thus obliterating all traces of their unhappy fate, and…by practically adopting the maxim that ‘dead men tell no tales,’ enabled themselves to pursue their diabolical career with impunity.” But Jesus spoke the truth because he was crucified (dead) to the world.

The movie “End of the Spear” tells the true story of five young men who answered the call of God to take the Good News of salvation to the remote tribe of the Auca Indians in Ecuador, South America. (Also known as Huaorani, Waorani, Waodani, or Auca, which is Quechua for "savage"; they are an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadorian Oriente in the Amazon region.) They all knew the danger and the risks that were involved. Sadly, their first attempt to meet the fierce tribe ended with their deaths at the “End of the Spear”.

Several months after Missionary Jim Elliot’s funeral, a friend of the family asked his widow how she was able to deal with the way Jim had died in the jungle. Elisabeth Elliot’s response surprised the friend, “My Jim didn’t die in the jungle that day. Jim died one night in high school when he knelt by his bed in prayer and told the Lord, ‘Jesus, if you did all this for me, there is nothing I can do for you that will ever repay the debt I owe. I commit myself here and now to go wherever you want me to go and do whatever you want me to do. I’m yours; do with me as you please.’”

“Dead men tell no tales.” Several years later, the very ones who had speared the five young missionaries to death gave their lives to Jesus Christ. The young missionaries’ self-giving so impacted these savage Indians that their blood cried out from the grave as a testimony of love to them.

Many evangelists appeal to people to give their lives to Jesus Christ for what God will give them and do for them. But Christ said, “Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul” (Mark 8:34-36).

A cross is an instrument of death. To follow Christ we must die with him. Paul said, “I identified myself completely with him. Indeed I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central” (Galatians 2:20, The Message Bible). Dead men do not insist on their own rights or protect their reputations. They have been crucified with Christ. Christ lives in them and they live by faith in the Son of God who gave His life up for them. Paul said, “I die daily” (I Corinthians 15:31). To really wear the cross, we must daily bear our cross. Perhaps Madonna and her likes, though misguided, are not far from the kingdom. We must be crucified with Christ to be his followers. Dead men tell no tales – they are authentic, selfless, and full of purpose and joy.

Do you long for a life of real fulfillment and everlasting life? Live a crucified life by surrender and faith in Christ.

“That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. . .” (Romans 10:9-13).