The Crack

…forgive your brother from the heart. Matthew 18:35b (NIV)

Imagine yourself living in a beautiful house. Upon looking out the front window, you see Christ walking up the flower-lined sidewalk to the front door. Your welcoming arms invite Him to come in. As the two of you walk down the center hallway, He sees the beautifully decorated rooms. At the end of the hall is a closed door. He asks to see the room. Reluctantly you open the door and enter a cluttered, trashed room. Christ sees the trap door in the floor and asks to go down into the basement. You hesitate.

A huge crack runs from the base to the top of the foundation. Christ reveals a strong wooden cross extending the length of the house with the cross beam supporting the structure above. The wooden beam also holds together the cracked foundation.

This vision captured my heart. It brought me to an understanding of Christ holding my foundation together and fully forgiving me from the cross. A month after this exercise at a seminar, I visited my daughter’s church. As I am walked through the halls, the same vision of the cross in my perpetrator’s basement was very clear to me. I needed to forgive someone for a past sin of 40 years ago. Christ died on the cross for him, too. Later that morning the sermon dealt with forgiving your brother seventy times seven from Matthew 18:21-35.

Only the cross could have given me the peace and freedom that I now live. My foundation is secure because Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin.

Dear Lord, help us to forgive others and live the lives You intended for us.

© 2011 Mary Burkey