Bridges part 1
This Rant series is about the ties that bind. And, unfortunately, like just about everything else we make this much more complicated than it needs to be. In our carnality we use just about anything negative we can think of to tie people to us. Guilt. That's a big one. We guilt people into doing things for us. Relationship--which, as we will see, is NOT supposed to be negative at all. "You have to do it because you're my friend..." In one of the Rocky movies Paulie says, "Friends owe." And Rocky responds by saying, "Friends DON'T owe. They do because they want to do." And that's my point. That's what I want to say. The bridges that connect us--truly connect us--all have one name. Love. Romans 13:8 says it like this, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." We don't owe anybody anything... except love. And the reason we owe each other love is not because we've taken love and need to pay it back, but because God has given us love, and it's all we have to give! It's like that picture--I actually saw this on a t-shirt--of somebody offering their heart to God and saying, "I know it's not much, but it's all I've got." That's what we think. We think we owe God our heart. And I get that idea. Because with everything He's done for us (saving us from sin and death, for starters) it seems like we would owe Him quite a bit. But really it's the reverse of that picture that's true. God doesn't require anything from us except for us to share what He's already given us. To receive and release His love. We didn't want our heart. In fact, He circumcized OUR hearts--cutting away the flesh of human effort--in order to reveal HIS heart beating with love in our chests! He tore down the wall, if I can say it that way, and built a bridge. And do you know what a bridge does? It connects two things that otherwise seem very far apart. That's what love does. It breaks down walls and builds bridges. It brings us together on a level that we otherwise couldn't reach. Because the deep calls out to the deep. I was convicted of this truth a long time ago: The only way for me and you to really line up is for me to line up with Jesus and for you to line up with Jesus. Because then we'll automatically line up with each other. And then it won't be about personal differences or what have you. All of that small stuff will just fade away. A pastor friend of mine says it like this, "Major on the majors and minor on the minors." As long as we're building on that foundation of love it doesn't matter if my house looks a little bit different than yours. Variety is the spice of life, yeah? And what matters is what's IN the house. You know, the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God. It's not without, it's within. And it flows out when we fill ourselves with the fulness of God by testing out the height, and length, and depth, and breath of His love by loving one another as big as we can. By letting God love US as big as we can and sharing that love with each other. Love builds bridges. Love IS the bridge. It is the only thing that truly binds us together!