Be A Bridge

In our day and time, there are many gulfs between people.  There are long-standing divisions between countries and groups of people.  One only needs to listen to the political ads on television and radio to here the anger hatred that flow between people over ideological differences.  How much more so, when there are serious ethnic and racial differences that divide us and make communication more difficult?  Personally, I find it very difficult to deal with someone who has betrayed me or broken my trust.  When someone has done something to directly hurt me or my family, it is like a huge gulf has opened up between us, and only the most amazing act of repentance or reconciliation could bridge this gulf.  Often these gulfs begin quite small, but over time, with misunderstandings and miscommunication, they can grow larger and larger.  We all know of people who are angry with someone else, so they refuse to talk to the person any longer – and even more, they may get upset with us, if we talk with that person ourselves.

When there is a strike at a company, like the one currently threatened at Genesys Hospital, a mediator is called in to help the two sides to talk with one another.  The mediator serves as a bridge between the two sides, helping them to communicate, working toward mutual understanding, and attempting to enforce accountability.  A mediator plays an important role in bridging the gap between people.

In our faith-lives, there is a huge gulf between us and God that is called sin.  St. Paul says in Romans, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…(Romans 3)”  All have sinned and continue to sin.  Even when we try to live according to God’s will, St. Paul would remind us that we cannot on our own power ever meet God’s expectations.  In fact, at times we really mess things up, hurting those close to us and destroying our relationships with them and God.  This past week, someone I have known for some time was caught doing something truly dreadful.  This individual, his family and friends, his church, and countless others will pay for his crime for many years to come.  His sin will lead to a huge gulf in those relationships that will probably take many years to close.

The good news about the gulf between us and God is that there is a bridge over this gulf –a bridge called, “Jesus”.  Jesus came to be the mediator between God and humanity (I Timothy 2), paying the price for our sins, granting us forgiveness, and giving us a new relationship with God.  This forgiveness is God’s free gift to us, and there is nothing that we need to do to earn this gift.  Jesus bridges the gulf between humans and God, and nothing can ever separate us from God’s love – this is God’s promise (Romans 8).    

The bridge does not guarantee that we will not still have differences with other people and that we will not be separated from them.  It also does not mean that there are not consequences for our sins or the times when we hurt those around us.  We are all still human, and we will still have broken relationships that lead to misunderstandings and gaps between us.  At the same time, Jesus calls on his children – all of us – to work to bridge the gaps and begin to act as mediators ourselves.  When asked how often people should forgive others, Jesus told his disciples seven times seven times, which meant that they should forgive them continually and completely. 

As Christian people, we are called to be bridges and to live as peace-makers.  Not only are we to forgive those who have hurt us, but also to encourage others to work toward forgiveness as well.

Rather than building walls, Christians need to be people who build bridges.  Followers of Jesus need to live in ways where we are pointing to Jesus through all we say and do.  One of the greatest witnesses that we can make is when we offer forgiveness to someone who has hurt us greatly.  It is easy to forgive a good friend, but can you forgive an enemy?  Can you imagine a place in God’s Kingdom for the person who hurts a child or abuses the elderly – is God’s grace that big?  Personally, who do you need to forgive in your life?  Can you let Jesus be a bridge-builder, not only between you and God, but also between you and someone who has hurt you or someone else?  How would Jesus call on you to “Be a Bridge”?

Finally Free!

This weekend, we celebrate our freedom as a country.  As individuals, we have been given the great gift of freedom, bought and paid for by the blood of many patriots over the years.  Over this weekend of picnics, beach parties, parades, and fireworks, we cannot forget the reason we can celebrate.  Our freedom came with a price, a sacrifice many of us might pause before making.

At the same time, this weekend reminds me of my spiritual freedom.  God is a just God, a God who holds people accountable for their sins and errors, their disobedience and willfulness.  Every person sins, and therefore, every person has failed in the eyes of God.  No matter how good we try to live, we are captive, enslaved, prisoner to our sin and sinful nature.  Despite this, God has freed us through Jesus.  We are free, not because of anything we have done, but through the actions of Jesus.  We are free! 

This leads to the question – Will God still love us when we disappoint God?  

The Great News that God gives us is, “Yes!”  God loves us with a crazy, unbelievable, out-of-this-world love.  Jesus told the story of the Prodigal Son to help us to know this truth.  God not only welcomes us back home, God watches for us and rushes out to find us and bring us home again. 

There is a great song performed by Chris Tomlin that perfectly illustrates this truth called, “Come Home Running.”  Check out these words…
Oh heart of mine, why must you stray?
From one so fair you run away
And one more time you have to pay
The heaviness of needless shame

Oh heart of mine, come back home
You’ve been too long out on your own
And He’s been there all along
Watching for you down the road

So come home running
His arms are open wide
His name is Jesus
He understands
He is the answer
You are looking for
So come home running
Just as you are

Oh child of God so dearly loved
And ransomed by the Savior’s blood
And called by name, daughter and son
Wrapped in the robe of righteousness

Oh, Child of God, so dearly loved.  Come home running, just as you are!  You and I are dearly loved.  Have you ever experienced God’s love in this way?  Who shared that love with you?  Have you experienced this radical acceptance and forgiveness in your own life?  Maybe it was the forgiveness of a parent or significant other, a co-worker or friend.  We all need to feel this kind of forgiveness in life, even if it is only the forgiveness that God gives to us.  This kind of forgiveness and acceptance leads us to come home running.

On this Independence Day weekend, we celebrate our freedom as a nation, but we should also our spiritual freedom, won for us by Jesus.  Being able to celebrate our religious freedom and worship God is one of the freedoms that our forebears won for us.   This holiday weekend, find some way to worship God and give God thanks for all the freedoms that we enjoy! 

God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.

Will God still love me if I do bad things?

Will God Still Love me If I Do Bad Things?

I still remember the feeling…I was in my late teens and I had made some really bad choices and done things that left me feeling really guilty.  The guilt became so bad that I couldn’t even go forward on Sunday morning to take communion, because I didn’t feel worthy.  My sin had created an ever-widening gap between God and me.  I wasn’t actively rejecting God, in fact, there was a part of me that needed and wanted God more than ever.  At the same time, I didn’t feel like God could really love me, knowing the sin that was within me.  In the end, I worked through my feelings, confessed my sin to a trusted pastor, and once again felt at peace with God.  However, it took time and effort to work through everything.

Have you ever felt that way?  Have guilt and fear ever withered your spirit, like a newly planted flower on a swelteringly hot spring day?  Have you ever carried around a sin that you believed that God could never forgive? Perhaps, it isn’t your own sin that you have a hard time imagining that God could forgive.  Maybe, it is the sin of a family member, friend or co-worker that you cannot imagine God forgiving.  Does God still love us if we sin?  What do we do about our sin and the problems that our sin causes us?

The Bible is very clear about God’s response to our sin.  God hates sin and the effect that sin has on us, on our world, and on our relationships with God and one another.  God condemns sin and those who sin (which is everyone), as St. Paul says, “The wages (the price) of sin is death.”  The truth is that our sin destroys us, our relationships, and our world.  Just as surely as God condemns us, our actions condemn us and lead to our deaths.

At the same time, because of God’s great love for us, God sent Jesus to die for us.  Now, when God sees us, God doesn’t see the sin, God only sees Jesus, who gave his life for us.  John 3:16-17 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For the Son came not to condemn the world, but to save it.”  As he was being crucified, a convicted criminal hanging on a cross next to Jesus asked to be remembered in Paradise.  Jesus offered that criminal forgiveness, promising him that he would be with Jesus in Paradise.  Jesus offers us the same promise.  Our sins will be forgiven, and we will be with Jesus in Paradise.

There is a wonderful parable told by Jesus about a man with two sons.  The youngest demanded his inheritance, left home, and blew the money on wild living.  The oldest resented his younger brother and was bitter about his brother’s wild living, as well as his father’s leniency.  After losing everything, the youngest son comes home to throw himself on his father’s mercy.  The father, for his part, had been out watching every day for his son to return.  When he sees the son coming home, he runs and greets him, welcomes him home, and throws a massive party for him.  Because, “This son of mine was lost, but now he is found.”  The Father never demanded that the son repent or abmit his failings – instead the Father went to him. 

So, it is with us, dear friends.  We all are lost, and we all have been found by God.  We all have made mistakes, and we all are welcomed home again.         

Will God still love us, if we make a mistake?  Absolutely, unequivocally, without a doubt – YES!  God knew you before you were even born, warts and all, and he sent Jesus to die for you.