Becoming a bridge

We are all familiar with Jesus’ admonition not to judge (Mt 7:1). It seems that the beginning of our Christianity is training on the boundaries between good and bad, light and darkness, evil and holiness. Along with this we learn what the “world” and “flesh” are so that we can eschew them, following after the Spirit of God. Somewhere along the way we realize that, though we are on the right side of our boundaries, we notice that some other people are not. We become offended at pan-handlers, or teens who dress improperly. If a brother borrows our tools and does not return them, we label him as “not a nice man.” And so the battle begins, to judge or not judge others.

When we look at Jesus’ life, it is full of love. It is also full of truth. If fact, one of the things love does is rejoice at the truth (1 Cor 13:6). But if we do not want to judge, what do we do with the truth?

Religions have sprung forth from men wanting to ignore the truth of what others do wrong in order that good men might love them. That is not the example we see in Jesus. He was a bridge. He recognized which side of the boundary a person was on, and became a bridge for them to travel to His side.

I have a friend that is a coffee barista. At the coffee shop people of all walks of life come in the door. She is a recent convert to Christianity, one who loves the Lord, and people, intensely. She used to tell me how badly she felt when she corrected people for swearing or being rude. Yet, she was realizing the boundary between how she herself used to act, and her new life in Christ. Yesterday she told me that it entered her heart to return kindness to her rude, swearing customer, and she did. It filled her heart with joy.

Where did the kindness come from? It came from God’s grace; His enabling power in us to do what we cannot do ourselves. God loves to give us grace for hard things, if we will take it. In fact, if we will ask the Lord for His grace, our offence at others will melt away. Then we become a bridge for the offensive person to cross over to where Jesus stands, and he will experience the Love of God.

God prefers that we ask Him for grace. Sometimes we get stuck on our side of the boundary. Today, let us mature into His grace, desiring to be like Him more than correcting others. Then we bring His Love into the hearts of many. Amen.