Cross and anchor.
As we walked the beach, we came across a sailboat that had lost its battle with the sea; it washed ashore outside in California, got trapped in the sand and is probably still sitting there today. What potential it had to provide an exhilarating ride and create enjoyment on the sea - now it’s lost. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are just sitting there, useless. The waves have already done some damage to this once beautiful boat. Looters have done even more damage, ripping out anything that had value. Now mold and mildew give it a gross facade.
How much worse it would be if you knew such devastation could have been prevented with some proper moorings. The same is true in a person’s bio. What if proper moorings could equip a person to reach the full potential of living under the sun? What if the correct grounding enabled positive living and deterred episodes of “running aground?”
This stained glass window embraces a concept of proper moorings. It actually speaks about the cross of Christ Jesus as our anchor in life. It is an anchor that goes deep into the human heart and exposes our greatest need: we’ve fallen short of the glory of God.
The cross is a cruel death implement that was used for the worst of criminals. When we look to the cross and see that Jesus was stretched out and nailed to the cross, it was not because he was a criminal. It was because he was representing a criminal - me. It was because our sinful behavior, our broken words and our off-kilter thinking do not line up with God’s perfect standard. He could have left us to be the cross’ victim but he determined to take our place.
If this is true, then how is the cross our anchor for life? Two ways it does this:
It tells us the truth about what is wrong inside of our very being. It will not pander to our self-loving persona. It shakes us to the core to show how corrupt we are. It will not hold punches. In short, if someone is THAT bad that they had to be executed in such a horrible fashion, this fact smacks us in the face and humbles any arrogant streaks in our thinking.
The cross tells of the enormous love and support that Jesus Christ, God’s own son, has for us. It speaks about the Father’s love for us (John 3:15-17, 1 John 3:1). It shows us how far God would go to help us out of our troubles and our hell.
When these two truths are held back to back, they become an anchor for us even if life turns south. This means that any hard times we experience are not as a result of God punishing us; that was completely taken away at the cross. This means that difficult times will remind us that God knows, cares and empathizes with our difficulties. Because nothing can or ever will come close to the excruciating pain he suffered on the cross for us. If He gave so much to save us, every breath we breath can be a sound of thankful living. Every thought can be swayed to remember that heaven is our home and this painful life is temporary. Every step or every toiled movement can be handled with knowing the Savior’s cross is our relief.
From the Mount Olive booklet on stained glass windows:
When the top part of an anchor is in the shape of a cross it is called an anchor cross. This symbolizes Jesus Christ who is our sure anchor. It dates back to the persecution before Constantine when Christians anchored their hope in Christ.
In essence, it says, that when life gets difficult, our sure anchor is knowing that God’s son, Jesus Christ, suffered in our place. He understands our suffering. He even predicted our suffering. He will help us through our suffering!