There’s a song many of us have loved for a long time called “The Old Rugged Cross.” It’s one of those hymns that seems simple at first, but the more you think about it, the deeper it goes.
It was written by George Bennard, an American evangelist and song leader, in the early 1900s. Bennard wasn’t trying to write a flashy song or impress anyone with complicated words.

He was thinking about Calvary, about the place where Jesus suffered and died for a world of lost sinners. That thought stayed with him, and out of it came one of the most beloved hymns in Christian history.

When he wrote, “On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame,” he was being honest about what the cross really was. In the Roman world, a cross was not a decoration. It was not a symbol of beauty. It was an instrument of cruel punishment, public humiliation, and death.
People were meant to look at it and feel shame.

Bennard saw something more. He saw that on that old rugged cross, the dearest and best, Jesus Christ, was slain. What looked like shame to the world became the very place where God’s love was shown.

What looked like defeat became victory. What looked like the end became the doorway to eternal life.

That’s why the hymn says, “And I love that old cross.” Not because suffering itself is lovely, and not because shame is something to seek. But because that cross is where Jesus gave Himself for us.

It is where pardon, cleansing, and salvation were made possible.

Later in the song, Bennard writes, “To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear.” He is saying that if we belong to Christ, we should not be ashamed to stand with Him.

The world may not understand the cross. It may mock it, dismiss it, or call it foolish. But the believer says, “I will gladly bear that reproach, because I know what happened there.”

And then the hymn turns toward hope: “Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away, where His glory forever I’ll share.” The cross that began in suffering and shame ends in glory.

That is the heart of the song.

So when we sing “The Old Rugged Cross,” we are not celebrating pain for its own sake. We are remembering the love of Christ, the cost of our salvation, and the victory God won through what looked like defeat. It is a hymn about a rough, painful cross, but also about a glorious Savior.