Well, it’s another Sunday Morning. In Jude 1:16-19 (ESV) we read this truth written as a reminder to all of us, “These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”
As I look around at where our world is at now and where it’s going, I ask myself, am I ready for what’s to come? Are you ready for it? Have you rebuilt all the bridges you have torn down or even burned throughout your life?
When I was a young man I tore down so many bridges thinking that I would never need that part of my life walk again. Some I simply tossed a match on as I was crossing them never looking back to see what destruction I had caused. Some of the bridges that I burned had nothing left but ashes to work with, and believe me, it takes a long time to get them standing again and to be strong enough to cross once more. Once they are burnt, they are never the same. No matter how hard we try, we can never quite get them to look or stand like they once did. Here’s the truth, it’s OK for these bridges to be different. The act of rebuilding what we blindly tore apart when we weren’t thinking clearly is the act of love and compassion that God loves. The act of rebuilding these bridges is as Godly as the actual bridge. It is the outstretched hand that matters. If the bridge is different that’s OK it can still be crossed.
I Believe we are at a huge crossroads, there are too many bridges being destroyed. Most of them are being devastated by self-serving people that have no clue about what they are doing and how hard their life will be when they go to rebuild all the pain they have caused.
So many these days will sacrifice their bridges for earthly wealth and comfort or some sinful thing they feel they can’t live without. They lay up there earthly riches without a care of what tomorrow holds. We read about this in Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV), “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We ask ourselves what should we be doing then? How should we build up our treasures in heaven? The truth is, we do exactly what Jesus taught us to do, we love one another. We put this craziness aside and we treat each other with the same respect as we would want them to treat us with. We stop tearing down these bridges between each other and instead we build better ones right next them. See, Jude didn’t stop when he was talking about ungodly passions.
As always, we are given instructions in these writings on how to reach our heavenly goal and how to build our treasures there. We read this in Jude, 1: 20 – 25 (ESV), “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever, Amen.”
Here is the thing, it’s the love we extend to others that makes the bridge. It’s the extra love we put out that shows we are truly sincere about rebuilding these bridges that reinforces them. This is what we read about love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (ESV), “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Love truly is our greatest tool, let’s not be afraid to use it. Rebuild those bridges, show your love, use it to light someone’s path. That’s what Jesus wants us to do. Here is one final thought for you today, God truly loves each and every one of you, and so do I.
