The Great Divide--Bridged

This morning I was considering the following scripture:

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

It occurred to me that maybe I've been taking God's plan for me for granted. I've been resting in the salvation that He freely gave me. I've been hesitating to trust who He made me; often doubting myself. But in the middle of these thoughts this scripture came to me. It was one of the first passages of scripture I can recall reading on my own as a child. As a young one reading this it meant the whole world to me that God counts me as His child. But now as I'm knocking on 40 years old, it made me ponder the scripture more deeply.

God is at enmity with sin, which means then that because of my sin nature there would have been no way that I could have overcome the divide between us. It would have been like God having a restraining order against me. But His love--I'm about to cry writing this today--His love was so deep for me that He couldn't bare to have this divide between us so He made a way, He made a truth through the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus became my propitiation--making a straight path for me to enjoy a relationship with the Father. I can get to God through Jesus! The sacrifice that God made for me encourages me to realize that He made me who I am so that I can do what He's called me to do. As I do what He's called me to do--just as I am--in my weakened state--His strength becomes perfect so that He can get the glory by someone else being reconciled to the Father through what Jesus has done! There is a way to Him. It's like we were lost wondering in the darkness, separated from God and unable to repair the gulf between us, but Jesus became my salvation. He became my brother and as Bishop Woods so eloquently put it, Jesus--my big brother--seeing my situation and how I was living, went to God on my behalf and asked God to adopt me--to take me in--to save me. God listened to Him and now here I stand folded into the body of Christ and swallowed up in the love of God.

So when we say our ministry movement is a bridge--we are simply mimicking the Bridge--Jesus. We are doing all we can to touch a sinner; an unchurched, a backslidden, one of those ones that Jesus was sent here to reconcile. We want to lead them--through the testimony of what He did for us--into the revelation of a true and personal relationship with Jesus. A relationship that makes that person a brother or a sister with Christ. A relationship that allows Jesus to again and again go to God and ask Him to adopt another and another. That's love that can bridge an insurmountable divide. Not only does it make me part of a family of redeemed, but it entitles me to the promises of God.

Thank you Jesus for being my savior. Thank you for adopting me. Thank you for reconciling me. Thank you for reaching way down to pick me up. Thank you for empowering me through discipleship under my Bishop and Pastor. Thank you for bringing me to the understanding that when you saved me--it wasn't over, but you commissioned me to tell somebody else about the good news of how YOU SAVE! You are yet saving. You are yet beckoning for more.

Be encouraged today realizing that what God has done for you is to make you a son and a daughter. You are bought with the ultimate price. Now it's time to take back the Kingdom with the force of your testimony, of your living and of your heart's desire to become a bridge for someone else!