I fully admit to being a sci-fi nut.  I was raised on Star Trek: The Next Generation and the classic Doctor Who TV series.  One of my family’s favorite activities is watching shows together and, as we do so, picking out interesting ideas and bits of wisdom for discussion.  We were watching the new Doctor Who series by BBC (at which point I must also admit to being a BBC nut), and something really stood out to me.

At the opening of season six, the Doctor (who, if you don’t know who he is, happens to be the most epic, time-traveling, world-saving, ingenious alien-guy ever) went to the house of a young girl named Amy Pond.  Now, little Amy had a crack in her wall – a scary crack.  It was no ordinary crack; it was a crack in the fabric of reality itself.  It had been there for a long time, and it always made Amy afraid.  As the years went by, the crack widened and deepened.  Amy tried so hard not to notice it, not to think about it.  But this displayed something valuable: brokenness left unchecked only perpetuates more brokenness; simply ignoring brokenness does not bring healing.

Sometimes our lives look a lot like little Amy’s wall – cracked.  We can ignore the cracks for a while, trying to cover them up or keep them on the periphery, but eventually they will cause problems.  As the years pass the cracks widen and deepen and we numb ourselves to the ongoing effects of our own broken places in an effort to avoid the pain.  Yet our puny efforts to escape reality are futile, for it is the very structure of our reality — our lives, our hearts — has sustained damage.  Unfortunately, we often try so hard to not look directly at our cracks that we can’t always see them for the brokenness that they represent.  Then others come near us they ask, “What is that crack doing on your wall?”  We never know quite how to answer because the crack has been there so long; we have grown used to living with the fear of having others seeing our “cracks” or perhaps even just with the fear of actually acknowledging our own brokenness.  But the question is, are we willing to receive help?  Are we looking for Someone with the power to save us?

Amy: Are you a policeman?

The Doctor: Why? Did you call a policeman?

Amy: Did you come about the crack in my wall?

The Doctor: ….The crack in your wall, does it scare you?

Amy: Yes.

The Doctor: Well then, no time to lose. I’m the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don’t ask stupid questions, and don’t wander off.

You see, sometimes we, like Amy, are looking to lesser authorities when the greatest Authority is before us, ready and waiting for us to become so desperate that we rely on Him completely.  Brokenness is not okay; fear is not okay.  Jesus died to take those things away from us.  He purchased them with His blood, so they really don’t belong to us anymore, though we often cling to them because we simply don’t know what else to do.

So I ask you: Are there “cracks” in your “wall” that are incapacitating you?  Cracks that fill you with fear?  Cracks that seem to ooze bad things into your life?  There is good news – our Doctor is here to make us whole.  His name is Jesus, and nobody can heal brokenness like He can.

‘”The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”‘
— the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 (emphasis mine)

No longer do we need to walk wounded, shoring up the cracks in our “walls” and trying to ignore the brokenness.  There is no better time to claim Christ’s freedom and healing in your life than right now.