Building Bridges

What do you visualize when you hear the word bridge? Bridges go back in history thousands of years. the Romans and Greeks were great designers and engineers in bridge construction. Some of those structures are still standing and daily serve the public. Bridges are such a part of our everyday life, we rarely give them consideration. 

Have you ever thought of love being a bridge that connects one person to another? Love never gives up when hard, difficult times come to visit. Love keeps believing when all systems seem to fail, when a chasm is so deep and wide no human endeavor appears creative enough to bridge the gap. Yet love will find a way when everything else fails.

As a young child, I memorized a three-word verse from the Bible, “God is love.” When I have sinned, God’s love serves as a bridge to a clear conscience and a clean heart. I realize I must choose to walk across that bridge to receive God’s forgiveness. Even then, the Spirit of the living God prompts and nudges me onward to begin the crossing.  

Grow in Faith and Reap a Harvest of Righteousness - Part 3

It’s possible to become discouraged when changes which are needed to make life more dependable are so slow in coming. Productive change, without exception, coincides with making room for it to happen physically and emotionally. For a vineyard to stay healthy and productive, the grapevines must be pruned to make space for new growth.

Lasting change depends on your determination to create a place in your heart, mind and attitudes for it to exist. Fighting the fluctuation of feelings and thoughts can be discouraging, so change must be welcomed and nurtured. A healthy garden must be watered, and weeds that invade to suck away the nutrients must be recognized and obliterated.

          Change depends on discipline and hard work and can be painful, but it later produces a harvest of righteousness and pleasure. Changing for what is good, righteous and helpful is a challenge because it requires some thinning out, pruning and discarding. God will be your strength, hope and light as you choose to this transition.  

Grow in Faith and Reap a Harvest of Righteousness - Part 2

Choosing what is good and godly may require a struggle that’s surprising to most of us. Why not just roll with the flow and take the pathway of least resistance instead of staying focused on righteousness, peace and God’s purpose for you? There are many distractions to divert your attention from God’s plan for you.

Change, especially change that comes with repentance, trust and faith in Christ Jesus, begins a process that continues forever. While our finite, limited minds have trouble comprehending this truth, its validity is not lessened. The temptation is to take the course of least resistance and roll with the flow of old expectations.  

Your goal now is to flow with faith and trust in Christ Jesus, to remember that faith, trust and repentance are God’s gifts to you, that includes his righteousness. These gifts give your life a definite focus. Maturing as a person of faith is your objective now. God’s Spirit resides in you to ensure you reach God’s plan and purpose. 

Grow in Faith and Reap a Harvest of Righteousness - Part 1

Change without struggle is usually impossible but does not deny God’s instantaneously redeeming our souls. God’s mercies are definite motivations for changing old behaviors that are displeasing to him. When experiencing a crisis, we sincerely vow to change, but with time we sense ourselves slipping back into old thinking and behavior patterns.     

          Changes must be practiced diligently to prevent old, unhealthy behaviors from returning. We’re tempted to default on promises to reform by taking the path of least resistance. Jesus related how a man swept his house clean of an evil demon who had made his life miserable. The evil demon later returned with several fellow demons.

          Choosing to change means choosing to do the hard work of creating a new life style that includes what you know is pleasing to Christ Jesus. This is essential for preventing old habits from establishing even greater strangleholds. Greater is he who is in you, Christ Jesus, than he who is in the world. This is God’s promise.  

Infused with God's Light and Love - Part 3

Taking the path of least resistance for managing hard issues is a natural response, especially whenever choosing to go down the difficult, less traveled path appears hazardous. Succumbing to the most traveled path is appealing; it lets us avoid challenging choices. The Apostle Paul refers to this as the old, lingering, natural, unredeemed self.

Choosing to change may mean choosing a difficult path to follow. Now most people are not opposed to hard work if it’s acceptable and has predictable rewards. Taking the path of least resistance is failing to choose the good that could be done. My father believed in never putting off until tomorrow what could be done today.  

It’s easier to hate someone who has hurt you rather than to pray for God to bless that person. Praying for a person requires a change in attitude. The issue is to struggle, fight the good fight of faith, never give up or give in, while straining toward what pleases God. He will give you courage and strength to do it.  

Infused with God's Love and Light - Part 2

So often in counseling, a person leaves a session with enthusiasm because hope has been renewed, even with the realization that lasting change doesn’t come without struggle. Yet what we imagine can be either a powerful inspiration or a deterrent to progress. One man described it as a shadow that created fear of being honest.

His daughter confessed to struggling with an internal conflict she had failed to resolve. The advice he gave her was like a mirror reflecting his own face concerning what he was unable to work out with her mother, his wife. That shadow he identified was fear of being powerless, weak and inferior in the face of truth and honesty.

This man finally revealed to his wife the root of their conflict hidden in his feelings of insecurity, which were the source of their troubles. Keeping secrets hidden in darkness makes their shadow grow larger and more intense. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” so permit the light of Jesus to shine on the shadows in your life.  

Infused with God's Love and Light - Part 1

There’s a definite uniqueness to each person’s biology, chemistry and personality that sets us apart from others. God created each of us to be authentic, natural and spontaneous in expressing who we are. Yet limits must be placed on our impulsive thoughts and behaviors to provide ethical and moral character that’s pleasing to God.

The miracle of salvation is the infusion of God’s unearned love that sets us apart to be his treasured possession through faith in Jesus Christ. Consequently, nothing can overcome the boundaries God places around us. Within these boundaries, he created us for good works that comprise our unique identity and purpose.

As you grasp this truth and hold on to it with determination, God’s purpose for you is welcomed and acceptable. Sensing what you can be and do in compliance with what God intended, your identity comes into harmony with God’s desire for you. This choice brings peace, joy and security you will feel to the depths of your soul.