Words That Devour

 

 

This being April 22, Psalm 52 is in my daily reading (I typically read Psalm 52 on January 22, April 22, July 22, and October 22).

 

The following struck me this morning, “You love all words that devour…” The psalmist is speaking of the wicked man, whose “tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor.”

 

It seems to me that we live in a society that feeds off words that devour, and that we pass these words on to others. The most popular news channels are those – on both the “right” and the “left” - who attract viewers by issuing a steady stream of words that devour. The viewers internalize these words and then spew them out to others.

 

Then there are so-called “Christian” ministries that distinguish themselves by using words that devour those with whom they disagree, rather than having Jesus Christ as their center of gravity. Their adherents, in turn, are known not for being devoted to Jesus Christ, but are rather known for being opposed to other Christians. (I am not suggesting that we ignore false teaching and practice (of which there is plenty), ha! What am I doing right now? Tension, tension, tension!) When our main course is anything other than Jesus Christ we ought to take a step back, consider where we are, and return to our first love.

 

It is not unusual upon first meeting someone to be subjected to words that devour. People will proclaim what they have been reading and hearing (usually within the past few hours due to limited attention spans) and if you do not accept what they are saying, if you refuse to allow their words to devour you, then you often find a barrier between yourself and the other person and limited possibility of meaningful communication.

 

Of course, people often assume that you naturally agree with them and that there is no need to question anything they’ve received from others and are passing on to you. Sadly, many Christians so completely identify with political and nationalistic thinking, and the words that devour that are usually embedded in this thinking, that they cannot be distinguished from the world…since our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20; Heb. 11:13 – 16; 12:18 – 24) this is a particular tragedy.

 

I have visited churches in which it was assumed Vickie and I agreed with the predominate political views of the people. In fact, in these churches, as in many others, political mantras were more critical than the Apostles Creed, and political affiliation was the important common ground and basis for acceptance, rather than Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

 

“Words that devour” permeate our society. We hear them in song lyrics of virtually all genres. We hear them in sports – from trash talking to more violent language. Our movies and television shows are animated by words that devour – words that destroy our hearts and minds and souls and reduce us beneath the dignity of men and women and children created in the image of God. Our popular authors produce written words that devour, and we are foolish enough to think that we can read their words with impunity – words of violence, sex, material lust, and self-deification. (And make no mistake, much “Christian” writing is not about Jesus Christ, it is about us – shame on us! These are also words that devour.)  

 

Words that devour eat our souls and corrupt our minds and turn us into earth dwellers, perhaps even into beasts of the earth. Words no longer are vehicles for thought and communication, they become cudgels to beat the opposition into senseless submission. They are also words to seduce us to sleep in the lap of Delilah.

 

Yet, Jesus says that His words are “spirit and are life.” Jesus tells us that “the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63). Paul writes, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (Col. 4:6).

 

Paul writes, “The Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth…” (2 Tim. 2:24 – 25). And let me stress that “the truth” that Paul is writing of is not political truth, it is the truth of Jesus Christ.

 

Our calling is to be Light and Life to those around us, it is to call others to our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the hymn goes, we do this by sharing “beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life…words of life and beauty.”

 

We have the Word of eternal Life…will we share that Word with others? Will we “appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15) with words of goodness, truth, and beauty in Jesus Christ? Will we counter words that devour with words that give hope and joy and light and life and love in Jesus Christ?

 

Will we do this today?

 

Why I Bring My Bible To Church – And Why You Should Too

 

Why I Bring My Bible To Church – And Why You Should Too

Robert L. Withers, 2024.

 

A friend told me that there was no reason for him to bring his Bible to church because he has the text on his phone. I was surprised to hear this, for he is a leader in his congregation.

As I have pondered this, a phenomenon which is common in both church and small group settings, I wonder if we are thinking this practice through, and I wonder if pastors aren’t contributing to it by displaying Bible text on screens – giving attendees one more reason not to bring their Bibles – and with frankly not insisting that their people read the Bible – yes, I wrote “insisting.”

We have come to view the Bible as information and data, I hear this language all the time. We think we are cute when we say that B.I.B.L.E. means basic instructions before leaving earth – which again turns the Bible into a manual. We talk about the Bible being like a car manual in a glove box. If the Bible is a manual, if it is data and information, then okay, let’s use our tablets and smartphones and video screens because universal and cosmic and spiritual context and relationship don’t matter – and I do think that is what the Bible has become, when it is anything at all. I think we even skirt a danger zone when we speak of the “text” as an object for analysis and when that becomes our primary viewpoint – for a text is impersonal and there is no life in the impersonal.

If I open a Bible to read a passage I will see its context, I will not see the context on a video screen on my phone, a tablet, or on a screen in church.

As for the argument that we put the text on screens so that everyone will be reading the same version, I don’t think this was a problem before video screens when it was not uncommon for people to use different translations – after all we are supposed to be adults.

If my pastor is using an ESV and I have an NASB and my neighbor an NIV, we ought to be able to follow along and note differences – in fact, those differences ought to stimulate our thinking. Furthermore, good preaching and teaching can take differences into account when they matter. Again, we are supposed to be adults.

If we must display Bible texts on screens, let us please do it with a warning that what is on the screen is no substitute for viewing the text on the page of a physical Bible.

       

Peter tells us (2 Peter 1:4) that through the promises of God, which are in the Scriptures, that we become partakers of the Divine Nature. This means that reading the Bible ought to be sacramental, that in reading the Bible we partake of the very life of God, that God transmits His life to us. Instruction manuals do not transmit life, my Toyota RAV4 manual does not make me a RAV4, but the Living Word transforms me into the image of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures reveal Jesus Christ. Most of us no longer believe this. Most of us have been taught that when we read what we call the Old Testament that there are some “Messianic texts” and those are the texts we gravitate toward. While there certainly are some texts which are Messianic in Technicolor; if we are to believe Jesus, the Apostles, and the Church Fathers, all of the Scriptures reveal Him – they give us a composite and holistic portrayal of Jesus Christ and His Body. Consider:

“Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:27).

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’” (Luke 24:44).

The writers of the New Testament see Jesus Christ from Genesis to Malachi – and they see His Body – they see the Head and the Body as a unity, as do many of the Fathers.

How can we not thirst for the Old Testament when Christ reveals Himself to us through it? How can we not thirst for the New Testament when Christ, who is our life (or at least is supposed to be) comes to us through the Gospels and Letters? (And let’s recall that Revelation is a letter).

The Scriptures are Holy Ground, how have we taken the Holy Bible and turned it into a religious database? A self-help book? A therapy manual?

The Scriptures are to be engrafted within us, not downloaded whenever we need to reference something. (James 1:21; 1 Peter 22 – 25; Psalm 1; Hebrews 4:12).  

Here is another thing we seem to have forgotten, for centuries men and women and families have risked their lives, and often paid with their lives, to preserve and distribute the Bible. Even today, Christians distribute Scripture in dangerous places and are imprisoned and executed for their faithfulness to God’s Word and love for others. As I write this, there are men and women and families who have dedicated their lives to translating Scripture in difficult and sometimes dangerous environments, foregoing the cotton – candy lifestyle of American professing Christians; yet many of us are too lazy to open the Book or take it to church.

May I ask, what image and example are we giving to our children and young people when we do, or do not, bring our Bibles to church? What are our children seeing? What image is being planted in their hearts and minds? What is our testimony to our neighbors when they see us walk from the front door to the car to drive to church?

When I was a young Christian, it was not unusual for believers to carry pocket New Testaments, sometimes with the Psalms, in their shirts or purses. Nor was it unusual for Christians to have Bibles in their cars for their devotional use during the week and for sharing Jesus with others. To this day I have a Bible in my glove compartment that I can place in a pocket to take with me wherever I am going. In my business career it was not unusual for my coworkers to see me with a Bible in my office – it came with the package of who I am in Jesus Christ.

When we gather with believers, we ought no more to think of leaving our Bibles at home than we would our wedding rings.

Pastors, are we encouraging our people to bring their Bibles to church? Church leaders, are you being an example to others by bringing your Bible?

When we carry our Bibles to church we are making a statement, a statement that the Book is the Word of God, that the Word of God is our source of life in Christ, that we are not ashamed of the Gospel (Mark 8:38), and that we belong to the Communion of Saints – including those saints who have suffered, and are suffering, for the transmission of the Bible and its message of Jesus Christ.

“More to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10).

Fact or Fiction - Romans 4 (4)

 here is the conclusion to Fact or Fiction?

What are the fictions in my life? What are the areas that I think I can control? What are the promises of God that I don’t trust God to fulfill, and that I am trying to fulfill on my own strength, my own wisdom, my own knowledge, my own ability?

What about you? What about us as a church?

Are we living in the fact of God’s supernatural life and Presence, or in the fiction of our own thinking and ability?

Abraham believed in a God who calls things which are not as though they are – and who gives life to the dead.

Abraham and Sarah’s bodies were dead, yet they kept believing God to fulfill His promise of a son.

And then after that son was finally born God told Abraham to sacrifice him – Genesis Chapter 22.

Hebrews chapter 11:

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

Are we living in the fiction that God will not require everything from us? Are we living in the fiction that we can hold parts of our hearts and lives back from God? If God required Abraham to offer Isaac, and if God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, do we really think we can live the Christian life without offering anything and everything to our Lord Jesus Christ?

Who can measure the love that Abraham had for Isaac? Who can measure the love that the Father has for His only begotten Son?

What is there in our lives that we refuse to offer to God? What is there in my life that I say to God, “You cannot touch that?” What about your life? What about our life as a church?

It is only as we experience the death of the Cross that we can experience the resurrection life of Easter. God calls us to die with His Son so that through us others may live.

22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

Are we living in the fiction of religion, of religious tradition, of self-righteousness; or are we living in the fact that in Christ alone we have justification and new life and purpose and destiny?

One way I can tell whether there is fiction in my life is how I react when someone questions my fiction, when someone approaches it, challenges it, questions it…

What fiction is there in my life, in our life, in our life as a church – that we need to offer up to God?

How is our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ challenging us to live in the fact of the truth of the Gospel and the Word of God today? What is there in our lives, in my life, in your life, that God wants to renovate, to tear down in order to build up so that we can live in the glorious freedom of the sons and daughters of the true and living God?

AMEN.

Fact or Fiction - Romans 4 (3)

 continued from previous post...

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; 15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.

When we get to Romans chapter 7 we will dig deeply into what our relation with the Law ought to be – and it will probably shock us. But for now I simply want to point out that the Law brings wrath, that no one can be justified by the Law, the Law cannot produce righteousness.

Are we living with the fiction that the Law can produce a good and holy life? Or are we living with the fact that the Law is an instrument of guilt and death?

And for those of us who teach our children – what is our methodology in our teaching? Our we teaching our children the fiction that the Law produces righteousness? Or are we teaching them the fact of living in a relationship with Jesus Christ? Are we modeling that relationship as we spend time with our children? Are we sharing Jesus – not simply sharing about Jesus, but actually sharing Jesus with our children?

 

16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

If we are living in insecurity in our relationship with God then we are living in a fiction, we have a false idea of justification and of His love for us. God wants us to know that His promise of eternal life, of fulness of life in Christ, of an eternal future, is guaranteed to us if we have believed in Jesus Christ.

There is true guilt and there is false guilt. Some of us here this morning may have true guilt, and we need to stay here this morning until we have repented of our sins and allowed God to restore our relationship with Him.

Some of us here have false guilt, we have repented of our sins, we have confessed them to God, but we won’t let go of them – that’s living in a fiction – that’s refusing to believe the fact that Jesus paid it all on the Cross.

And some of us probably need to have some real guilt because there are things in our lives that are sin, habits in our lives that are sin – but unless we acknowledge sin as sin, as long as we think that we are the exceptions to the rule of holiness and righteousness…well…that is a delusional fiction.

The fact is that God wants us to live in relational security so that we can worship Him, encourage one another, and share the Gospel with others – explicitly share the Gospel with others. This idea that others are going to come to Christ through osmosis is a fiction and a copout – the fact, as we’ll see in Romans chapter 10, is that people need to actually hear the Gospel from us – that means you, that means me, that means us.

 

18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

A couple of weeks ago we saw what happened when Abraham and Sarah decided to take things into their own hands and not wait on God to fulfill His Word in His Way. When we attempt to take charge of God’s work and to make things happen on our own terms the result is heartache and sorrow and damaged relationships – and sometimes we live the rest of our lives with the consequences of our sin.

God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah when Isaac was born, about 14 years after Ishmael was born. Abraham was about 100 years old – from a biological -reproductive perspective Abraham and Sarah were both dead. God was going to make sure that there was no doubt whatsoever that Isaac’s birth was miraculous.

Sarah and Abraham had lived in the fiction that they could fulfill the Word of God and the result was Ishmael. God was going to teach them to live in the fact that only God can fulfill the Word of God that only God can bring life out of death.

to be continued...

Fact or Fiction, Romans 4 (2)

 continued from previous post....

Romans has three main sections to it, there are three stories, if you will, to this mansion. If we will roam this house and spend time in its rooms, and enjoy the furniture, it will not only change our lives, it will put us in a place where God can use us to change the lives of others.

Chapters 1 – 8 are the first section, and it deals with what we’ve done, our sins, and who we are outside of Jesus Christ – sinners. We have two problems before God can begin His work of renovation, the things we’ve done and the persons we are. What does it matter if our sins are forgiven if we are still sinners? It doesn’t matter, our lives are not changed, we are still living as dead people.

Chapters 9, 10, and 11 explore the sovereignty of God – I’d say these are the three most difficult chapters in the Bible, and if we aren’t familiar with them it would do us good to start reading them, and read them again, and again. We’ll likely still have questions when we’ve worked through them, but questions are good, it’s okay to say, “I’m, not sure about that. I don’t quite understand that.” Our goal should always be, “Do I see Jesus better today than yesterday? Do I love Him more today than yesterday?” Since Jesus is God and I am not, living with questions is quite okay if I realize that Jesus holds all of the answers to all of my questions.

The last section of Romans is chapters 12 – 16, and that is about living in close and intimate relationship with one another. Paul really messes with us in this section; he affirms God’s calling in our lives, but he also challenges us to stop playing religious games and get on with serious life in Jesus Christ. Our friends and neighbors need us to stop playing games, they need us to get serious about one another and the Gospel.

The first section of the first section is Romans chapter 1 through verse 11 of chapter 5. We have rebelled against God and we are all sinners, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – whether Jew or Gentile. We have God’s written Law, we have God’s natural law written on our consciences – and we have all rebelled against God, we are all born sinners, and we’ll see in chapter 5, that we have all been God’s enemies. This isn’t a case of us being naughty littles boys and girls, this is a case of us being God’s enemies and deserving God’s judgment.

If we stopped minimizing sin, perhaps we would better understand that our lives ought to belong completely to Jesus Christ – that we ought to be, as we’ll see in Romans chapter 12, living sacrifices. That when people see us that they can say, “There goes a living sacrifice, there goes a woman, there goes a man, there goes a child, who is living sacrificially for Jesus Christ. There is a church living a sacrificial life.”

And so in the second half of Romans chapter 3 Paul makes clear that the only way our sins can be forgiven is for us to trust in the death on the Cross of Jesus Christ, it is only in Jesus and through Jesus that we can be justified – that God can look at us as if we’ve never sinned and have always lived righteously.

Do we believe this fact, or are we trusting in a fiction that we really aren’t all that bad, that we can live up to the Law, that if we do more good than bad in this life that God will accept us? And keep in mind, this is not just about how we live, it is about whose life is living within us – because eternal life is meant to be lived here and now, not just in the hereafter. We are called to live supernatural lives – and I don’t think we necessarily understand that, let alone experience it.

Paul begins Chapter 4 with saying “Look at Abraham, look at David – they were justified not because they kept God’s Law, but because they believed in Him, they believed God’s Word, God drew them into a relationship with Himself – they are justified by faith and their sins were forgiven and they lived in an intimate relationship with the Living God.”

9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 10 How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

There were Jews in the Roman congregation who were believing a fiction that Abraham was justified before God because he was circumcised – and Paul says “That’s not true, that’s not a fact, that’s a fiction.” Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of God – and after that God instituted circumcision as a sign of Abraham’s belief; Abraham was not justified because he was circumcised, he was circumcised because he was justified.

As Paul points out in chapter 2, and as he will point out in chapters 9, 10, and 11 – you can be circumcised and still be dead in your sins. And that ought to remind us that we can be baptized, whether as infants or as adults, and still be dead in our sins. To the believer baptism is sacramental, to the family of the infant dedicated or christened baptism ought to be covenantal – but baptism in and of itself is not salvation just as circumcision was not salvation.

to be continued....

Fact or Fiction? Romans Chapter 4 (1)

 Good morning,

The next few posts are a message I preached on Romans Chapter 4. I hope there is something here to encouragement you in our Lord Jesus.

Much love,

Bob

Fact or Fiction? Romans Chapter 4

 

A few weeks ago in Sunday school Greta gave us a little quiz that consisted of a list of statements; we were to mark on the paper whether the statement was myth or fiction. One of the statements was one of my favorites having to do with the Pilgrims. While I don’t recall the exact wording it went something like this: “The Pilgrims came to the New World to have religious freedom.”

How many brave folks think that statement is true – that it is a fact? How many brave folks think that statement is false – that it is a fiction?

I know I’ve heard and read since childhood that the Pilgrims came to the New World to escape religious persecution and to have religious freedom; however, that is not a fact, it is actually fiction. While it is true that the Pilgrims left England for Holland to have religious freedom, they had religious freedom in Holland. The reason they left Holland is because of Holland’s culture and the effect that the Pilgrims thought it would have on their spiritual lives and especially the lives of their children. 

Are we living life based on fact or fiction? What is the foundation for the way we live? What is the foundation for the things we really and truly believe? Not the things we might like to believe, but the things we truly believe?

We can tell the things we truly believe by how we spend our time, by how we spend our money, by what we think about, by what we talk about – by how we live our lives.

We may want to believe the Bible, we may even say we believe the Bible; but if we don’t know the Bible, if we aren’t spending time in the Bible, if we don’t spend time with others sharing the Bible – then the fact is that we have fictionalized our relationship with the Bible.

In his NT letter to the church in the City of Rome, Paul is dealing with fact and fiction. He is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the same time showing the religious, philosophical, and cultural fictions that the Roman Christians believe.

Fact or fiction: There is something I can do to earn, or merit my salvation?

Fact or fiction: I may be initially saved by grace, but after I am saved it is up to me to make sure I stay saved, to make sure that I live under the Law and obey God’s commands?

Fact or fiction: I can never be certain of my salvation, of my relationship with God?

Fact or fiction: If I do come to know Jesus, then I can live the way I want to and God will not hold me accountable?

Fact or fiction: God doesn’t want me to give up anything in my life, He wants me to live life the way I want to live it?

Fact or fiction: God doesn’t want me to live supernaturally?

Fact or fiction: God will understand if I don’t explicitly and intentionally share the Gospel with others?

Fact or fiction: A person can be a Biblically – based Christian and not be committed to the Church of Jesus Christ?

 

During our time in Romans we’ll touch on these facts and fictions, in most instances more than once. Let’s ask God to open our hearts and minds and to respond to Him in obedience to the facts, to the eternal realities of His Word.

I’ve spent a good part of my life in new construction and in the renovation of properties; and I can tell you that new construction is a piece of cake compared to renovation. In new construction, if the engineering and architectural work is done well, you can generally go, go, go.

But in renovation before you can put something up, before you can upgrade a kitchen, a bathroom, the common areas of a high rise; or before you can install new mechanical systems – you have to take things down, you have to remove things…and that is usually time-consuming and messy.

Having said that, there are two things critical in both new construction and renovation – at least if you’re involved in the project’s management – you’ve got to see the finished product, you’ve got to know where you are going. If you don’t see the vision, if you don’t see the end result – then you can’t lead a team to get there.

The owner of an apartment community isn’t likely to fund a renovation of a few million dollars if he can’t “see” what his or her property will look like after the work is done. The owner isn’t likely to let me tear things down in order to build things up unless he has a vision for the completed renovation.

Much of the Bible is about tearing things down in order to build things up. This is because we’ve built houses of fiction, we’re living in houses of fiction, we’re living lives of fiction – and we certainly live in a world of fiction, of myth in the sense of stories that aren’t true – there are true myths but we don’t have time to delve into that right now.

All of this means that when I come to the Word of God that I must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to renovate my life. To tear things down in order to build things up. Every day, I think it is safe to say, our lives ought to see a tearing down and a building up – because if we are in a relationship with Jesus Christ then God’s Word and the Holy Spirit will be working in our lives from here into eternity.

to be continued....

The Key Bridge

 

The Key Bridge

 

I’ve been pondering the tragedy of the Key Bridge, praying for the families who lost loved ones. I often pray for those involved in tragedy, and I pray on an ongoing basis for regions engulfed in war and famine and disease, and I pray for our Lord Jesus to return in His glory and establish righteousness and justice. We have plenty to pray for, plenty to intercede for, more than enough to keep us away from the vitriol of the world and its politics and lust after money and pleasure and power. If we stay on our knees, we won’t be able to run after the world, the flesh, and the devil.

 

The thing about the Key Bridge for me is that many years ago I used it during my morning and evening commute to and from work. I used it many other times as well, for I lived in eastern Baltimore County and the Key Bridge was often the best way to travel. I have been on the Key Bridge hundreds, if not thousands, of times and I don’t recall ever once wondering if the bridge would collapse while I was on it.

 

In May 1980 a freighter hit the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, killing 35 people when a section of that bridge collapsed. I suppose some of those folks had driven the bridge many times, for others it may have been their first and last time. I doubt that any of them wondered whether they would make it from one end to the other, they assumed the bridge was safe, they assumed their passage would be safe. There were people waiting for them at the other end of the bridge that they would never see.

 

In 2018 a bridge in Genoa, Italy collapsed, killing 43 people. Did these people know that there was a design flaw in the bridge that experts knew about? Did they know that 8 years before the tragedy the risk of the design flaw had been raised? Gianni Mion, who was in charge of the bridge’s maintenance, asked in 2010 if someone could certify the bridge’s safety. He was told, “There’s the self-certification.”

 

After the disaster Mion said, “I didn’t understand the meaning of that answer; I thought it was nonsense. I should have done something about it, but I didn’t.”

 

When Mion was asked why he had remained silent, he said according to a BBC report, “that he was afraid he could lose his job and his position of power and prestige at the helm of one of Italy’s major industrial companies.”

 

What can we learn from all of this?

 

How many of us remain silent concerning Jesus Christ because we don’t want to lose earthly things? Like the Pharisees, how many of us do not witness to others of Jesus Christ because we “love the praise of men more than the praise of God”? (John 5:44; 12:42 – 43; Gal. 1:10). Just as Mion and others faced an Italian court as a result of their gross negligence that resulted in the deaths of 43 people, we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our lives, including our witness of Christ to others (2 Cor. 5:9 – 11; Mk. 8:38; Ez. 33:1 – 9).  

 

There is only one True Bridge for us to take in this life, a Bridge that will withstand all that can be thrown against it, a Bridge that will always stand – even when it appears to have been destroyed on the Cross – that Bridge is Jesus Christ. This Bridge takes us from being sinners to being saints, it takes us from spiritual death to spiritual life (Eph. 2:1 – 10; 2 Cor. 5:11 – 21). This Bridge most surely spans our passage from life through death to life forever.

 

But, of course, we must take the Bridge, we must travel on it. Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Knowing about the Bridge is not enough, seeing pictures of the Bridge is not sufficient; driving to the Bridge to look at it, to see other people traveling on the Bridge, without traveling on the Bridge ourselves leaves us on the wrong side of the shore.

 

The Bridge of Jesus is a one-way bridge, there is no two-way traffic – for Jesus is our Author and Finisher, in fact, once we are on the Bridge, once we are in Him and He is in us…He takes control, we are no longer in the driver’s seat and we can trust Him for the journey – no matter how perilous things may appear. (Phil. 1:6; 2:12 – 12; Heb. 12:1 – 2).

 

What bridge are we traveling on today? What is our destination?

 

Perhaps we could ask others, “What bridge are you traveling on? What is on the other side of your bridge?”

 

Let us make no mistake, only One Bridge will stand, and His Name is Jesus. (Acts 4:12; Heb. 12:25 – 29).