Lent Day 39: Take One Nail to The Foot of The Cross

Last week, I was privileged  to attend a retreat program at one of the local churches. The Minister spent some time talking about the significance of Christ’s death on the cross. He mentioned that we could lay our burdens, sins and fears upon the cross and in exchange, take away forgiveness, a new life, peace and rest.

Then he gave each person a pencil, index cards and a giant nail. He asked us to write all our fears, sins, habits that we wanted to give up, and burdens down on the index cards. He had a young man stand up on the altar with a horizontal wooden bar on his shoulders, to signify Christ on the Cross. He then asked each person to proceed to the altar with their nail and card. The idea was to nail the cards we had written on to the foot of the cross, leaving it there forever and letting go of the contents. The index cards were going to be burnt, their ashes thrown away.

It was one of the most powerful moments I had ever experienced, and I will always cherish the memory. Tears flowed freely as people wept on their way up to that altar, dragging the weight of their burdens along with them. After the service, there was a palpable sense of peace in the air and relief on the faces of attendees. You could tell the Holy Spirit had been at work.

One of the things I had written on my index card was a nagging burden that stemmed from my inability to forget an incident I always say I have forgiven. I had never been able to completely get rid of some element of resentment about the incident. It crept up from time to time. It was the first thing I wrote down. In the days after the retreat, I observed that anytime the offensive memory tried to come into my mind, I would just remind myself that I had nailed it to the foot of  Christ’s Cross with a giant nail. Immediately, I would shrug and move on to the next thing. This was actually working for me.

Today, we recall the painful and unjust execution of our Savior on our behalf. He calls each one of us to bring our sins, bad habits, burdens, fears and anxieties and nail them to His Foot on His Cross, and leave them there. The wounds from our nails will cause his Precious Blood to flow, and one drop of that Precious Blood is enough to cleanse and heal us. In exchange for what we have nailed to His Foot, He declares us forgiven and healed. He gives us freedom, rest and His own Precious Peace which surpasses any kind of human comprehension.

Today, may the Holy Spirit help each person that recalls this precious exchange in their lives, begin to live a life of freedom, victory, joy and peace in the name of Jesus. Amen.

            From Colossians 2:  11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins[c] of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.