The Atonement Room

How is it that humans in general tend to forget about the more important things in life? We get into this one-track state-of-being that only allows us to see the here and now. We are eternal beings, children of an all-knowing and all-powerful God who loves us and has provided a Savior, Jesus Christ, to carry us back to our heavenly home. So why is that I forget my best friend and Redeemer in the flurry of school assignments and weekend plans? How is it so easy to disregard the one person that I owe everything to? 

This summer when Elise and I were in Italy we spent an entire day perusing the works of art in The Vatican. My pretentious and pompous little self was so excited to see all of the famous paintings I had studied in school. We followed the swarms of people streaming through the exhibits like little guppies. These paintings were so huge and intricate! You could take hours staring at one painting and not see all of the hidden symbols and details in every stroke of paint. Everyone around us was taking time to say smartsy things in varied languages about the works of Raphael, Michelangelo, and da Vinci. 

We had just finished studying Raphael's School of Athens when we decided to follow the river of humanity to the famous Sistine Chapel. Everyone was in a rush to get there, and so the tiny rooms and exhibits on the way were only casually observed. In everyone's haste a tiny little room was generally overlooked. I will call the place The Atonement Room. It forever changed the way I see Jesus Christ and his loving sacrifice for all of humanity.

The Atonement Room is small, basically a small passageway. It would be so easy to walk right through it and not look up. On the ceiling is a very small depiction of Jesus Christ in The Garden of Gethsemane, atoning for the sins and pains of every individual that has ever lived, lives, or will ever live. An angel is offering him "the bitter cup" of suffering. He is about to perform the greatest and most selfless act in the history of any kind of history. He is about to pave the way back home to our Heavenly Father. 

Elise and I stopped for several minutes in reverent silence. In that moment I was remembering the most important thing, and that was that I have a Redeemer who loves me. I've suffered from imperfection my whole life (haven't we all?) and I desperately need someone to pick me up, clean me off, and show me how to be better. That is what Jesus Christ is to me. He is not some myth from The Bible, He is my reality. Because of Him I can hope for a better future for all mankind. Because of Him I have faith that everything will work out, even when it doesn't seem like it will in this lifetime. 

As we were pondering our love towards Christ and the beauty of His Atonement we looked around, hoping that others would stop and be filled with the same joy and gratitude that we felt. To our dismay we noticed that the majority of the throngs of people walked right through The Atonement Room, not even pausing to glance upwards. 

That is when it hit me. How many of us wander through the passages of life focusing on the frivolous and forgetting to look up? There are billions of people living and breathing across this world at this moment and most of them do not know about or do not care that there once was a man named Jesus Christ who gave everything to heal them. Those people in The Vatican were rushing past the most beautiful and monumental event ever to occur. They failed to see that this life only has purpose because there is a hope of becoming better through Christ. 

Now, I know that there are many people who choose not to see Christ as their Savior. I respect and love these people deeply. But just because the people failed to see The Atonement Room for what it really is in The Vatican DID NOT make it non-existent. For those who stopped and for those who didn't the reality was the same. The painting was there whether they wanted it or not. 

We all have a Savior. I know He lives. I have been broken so many times to count and have felt the healing power of Christ's Atonement. The depth of it is profound. He is the Great Medic of Souls. I truly believe that to my very core. He loves us and has given us a choice to accept his beautiful gift to us. I pray that I may be humble and strong enough to rely on Him and His greatness and mercy. 

Happy Sunday. Happy Day.