Lighting Up Our City Video 4: Building Bridges Not BarriersНамуна

I love the song “The Bridge” by Casting Crowns. Each time I hear the words, I visualize Jesus’ cross, lying on its side to form a bridge across a wide chasm. On one side is me and all my sin, and on the other is God in all His goodness and love. I could not cross this great divide on my own; however, Jesus is the bridge across the chasm.

The song also challenges me to consider how I might enter into bridge-building relationships with others in our broken, wounded, bleeding world. Am I willing to see and reach out to those who are hurting? How can I meet them exactly where they are? And how can I show them the grace and mercy God has given me?

It helps when I remember who I was apart from Jesus and where I would be without Him. There is no way I could cross the great divide between myself and God’s love and grace without Jesus as the bridge. How can I be that bridge that leads someone else to Jesus today?

I need to see them; not shun them. I need to meet them where they are versus expecting them to conform to my way of living. I need to love them with the love of Jesus. And only then may I be invited to “speak the truth in love” to them. This is what Jesus did. This is what I am called to do as a bridge-builder.

By Teresa Baumbach