Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] It's Pastor Chuck Allen, and thanks for joining me on another weekday podcast. As we get kicked off in this new year, one of the things that I'm most excited about is building bridges. I've been thinking a lot about this over the past quarter. There's something about a bridge.
[00:00:22] Bridge doesn't apologize for standing there. It just declares pretty badly, pretty defiantly. Division doesn't get the final word. It stretches across the gap. And a bridge, if it could talk, would say, what's been separated can be reunited.
[00:00:39] Paul writes in Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 13 through 16, that once we were far from God, but Christ brought us near through his blood. And then he says that Jesus broke down the wall of hostility that once separated us. So here's my question.
[00:00:54] If Jesus tore the wall down, why are we so busy building new ones between us and this divided world?
[00:01:02] Jesus didn't come to maintain walls. Jesus came to build bridges. The cross wasn't a symbol of suffering.
[00:01:11] It was a construction site for reconciliation between us and God and between us and one another.
[00:01:18] And all of it happens because of the cross and all that Jesus has done on that cross. You see, when Jesus stretched out his arms on that wood, he was doing some super cosmic construction, connecting heaven and earth, God, us, humanity, and you and me.
[00:01:40] Walls separate. Bridges connect. Ve say stay out. Bridges say, come on over.
[00:01:47] And let's just be honest here. Walls are a lot easier. They're clean. They're controlled. They're safe. But bridges.
[00:01:54] Bridges take tension. They take trust. They take time.
[00:01:58] Maybe that's why following Jesus always feels so doggone risky. Because he doesn't call us to manage what's safe. He calls us to move where love leads. So here's the question to carry today. Where in your life is. Is God asking you to pick up a hammer and build again? Maybe it's for a family member you haven't called in years. Maybe it's somebody who hurt you. Maybe it's a group of folks you've quietly written off. Well, like the church.
[00:02:26] Remember, bridge building isn't about pretending that the river isn't there. It's about deciding connection is worth the work.
[00:02:35] The world watches us to see what we'll do with the broken places of our world and our lives.
[00:02:44] So let's refuse to be believers who stand by our walls when Jesus calls us to walk across his bridge.
[00:02:52] Grace, peace, and joy. Friends, let's keep building as we try to create bridges, especially in this weird, highly toxic, divided world, and go in peace. And as you do Let this be your prayer. Lord, today let me be a bridge builder so that I might experience your power, your peace, your provision, and your joy in my life and with others. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen and amen. Thanks for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
