Listen Now
Dear friend,
I am not an artist, an art teacher, or expert. But I do love creativity, art, and color. Art makes my heart feel something I cannot always say with words.
Recently, my family and I took a day trip in Arkansas. We happened upon a huge statue of Christ. Five-foot-nothin’ me, standing at the base of this 65.5-foot figure made of concrete and steel, felt a thrill to sense its height — the “bigness” of Jesus!
On the drive home, I wondered if it felt like that to see the statue that overlooks Rio de Janeiro, known as Christ the Redeemer (pictured on the cover of Reach UP). It is even taller! It stands on a big platform on top of a mountain. All in all, it’s about as tall as a 12-story apartment building. And those arms — stretched wide, reaching out over a whole city – wow!
The next morning, as I was sitting in church, a verse came to mind: “He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west.” PSALM 103:12
I once heard someone say, “If you travel east, you will never get to the end of east. And if you travel west, you will never get to the end of west.” It just keeps going and going. I picture a cat chasing its tail but never catching it.
The day before, I had been impressed with the statue’s outstretched arms — from fingertip to fingertip, 65 feet. Later I read that Christ the Redeemer’s arms are even wider — 92 feet. That’s as wide as those sculptors/builders could make them.
But the Bible invites us to imagine something even bigger.
Picture Jesus picking up all your sins and mistakes — every relapse, every time you ended up back in jail, every broken relationship, every “I can’t believe I did that” — He takes all of it and throws it “as far as the east is from the west.” It cannot be found. It is gone.
No statue can show how wide Jesus’ arms really are for you. Nor can they show how far His love and forgiveness reach. There’s a limit to any statue’s height and width. But Jesus’ love has no limits and reaches farther than we can see, count, or measure.
When people talk about Easter and what Jesus did on the cross — or even during any ordinary day — you may feel very aware of your past. Maybe you believe your life has been one long line of pain and regret.
Let me give you some good news: His arms are still open!
Oh, what a wonder! What a blessing! Jesus does not turn anyone away. Not the woman who’s been locked up. Not the woman who’s gone back to using. Not the woman who feels ashamed of the choices she’s made. Not the woman who is trying, one shaky step at a time, to put her life back together.
His arms are open wide for you.
Your sins really can be forgiven. Your past really can be covered. You are not too much for Him. You are not too far gone. Today — right where you are, whether in an apartment, a shelter, a program, or behind a locked door — you are invited to rest in those wide-open arms.
With my own arms open wide to you,
Crystal Knapp
