Thursday, November 21, 2002
It was a sign of hope in the awful despair at Ground Zero. There's a good chance you've seen a picture of it. In the horrific collapse of the World Trade Center towers, two cast iron beams, forming the shape of a cross, apparently were driven through the roof of the 6 World Trade Center building. Later, in the shell of 6 World Trade, rescue workers found that cross, amazingly, standing upright in a sea of rubble, with insulation hanging on one arm of the cross. Ironworkers eventually removed it from the rubble and they mounted it on a concrete slab, a remnant from a collapsed bridge between two World Trade Center buildings. One Brooklyn firefighter said the cross was a symbol of some hope to his heroic "brothers." He said, "It reinforces their faith in God - that God's here for them."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cross in the Rubble."
The picture is etched forever in my mind and, no doubt, in the minds of many who worked what they called "The Pile" at Ground Zero - the cross towering over a mountain of rubble. You know, that may be a picture of where you're going to find hope in the "rubble" you're in right now.
Maybe it's a relationship that's collapsed on you; maybe even your marriage. Or it could be that your health has collapsed, or your job, maybe your financial security, or your dream. In a sense, you are picking your way through the rubble of what's broken, of the despair you feel sometimes, of the questions about where to turn now.
And then there's the cross. A cross you might not have even paid much attention to before your personal tower collapsed. But you need that cross now. You've needed it all along, but maybe you've never realized it until now.
I'm talking, of course, about that "old, rugged cross" on which the Prince of Glory died for you. God talks about it in 1 Corinthians 1:18, our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (He's referring to those who are still under the death penalty for their sin because they don't know Jesus), but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God." That cross is the most powerful place in the world for those who realize they're away from God because they've run their own lives - who realize that their only hope is a rescuer - Jesus, who died for your sins so you don't have to.
In the rubble, we realize we're not enough. In the rubble, we realize how much we really need the God who made us. And we realize how far we are from Him. And then there's the cross - where Jesus died to bring us back to God. That cross where He died represents God's love for you, that He's ready to forgive you now for every wrong thing you've ever done, that He can heal what's broken inside you. If, in your heart, you'll come to that cross and give yourself to the One who gave Himself for you there.
If you're ready to belong to this Jesus who loves you so very much, whose power you need so much, just tell Him, "I'm Yours, Jesus, from this day on." And I would love to send you my booklet - it's called "Yours For Life." It's all about beginning this personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Just let me know you want it.
It's in the rubble of something we thought we'd never lose that we can find the Someone we will never lose. There's that cross rising above your rubble. And the One who died for you there will never let you go.