Thursday; February 21

          Over the last several months there has been a lot of talk about building a barrier between nations to keep people safe.  Now, before you turn me off, please understand that what follows is not intended to be a political statement, rather the goal is to make a spiritual point.  You see, walls have separated people ever since people realized they were different than their neighbors.  Whether it was a fence around a piece of property, a wall around a city or a physical barrier between nations, we have been trying to keep people away from our lives and out of our business for a long time.  Interestingly, barriers have not always been “physical”, there have even been times when people segregated themselves from one another based upon race, philosophy or religion. 
          Through the years humans have done what we can to erect barriers between people, but interestingly something happened several centuries ago that made co-exiting possible.  When the New Testament teaches us about Jesus it notes, “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” (Ephesians 2:14-16).   The policy of humans might be to erect physical, emotional or spiritual barriers to keep people separated, but the goal of Christ was to bring all types of people together under His banner of love.
          Are we doing what we should be doing to tear down what separates us from God and from one another?  Thankfully, through the power of the gospel of Jesus, we can build bridges that have the potential to lead all of us into the kingdom of God.
           Think About It!

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