Why Build a Bridge
- Christen Moore
- Aug 3, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 5, 2022
"Building Bridges: Part 2"
Frazzled Prayer: Lord, as we embark on the mission to build bridges with those that we love and restore relationships we think are lost, help us to recognize how we are miraculous reflections of your incredible nature. Let us not only accept that we were given life through your very breath, but that we can rejoice in that very gift because it gives us the ability to then breath life into others. Amen!
DID YOU KNOW:
The largest bridge in the world is the "Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge," a 102.4-mile viaduct in China. It took four years to build and opened to the public in 2011.
Can you imagine the intensity of the mission, motivation, and the magnitude of commitment it took to complete a job like this?!
Restoring relationships can be equally as daunting of a task, but we have an amazing engineer in charge who has given us the means to understand our mission and our motivation. He has given us the ultimate example in order to understand the magnitude of the importance in producing these relational feats of architecture! His name is Jesus! Lord of Lords and He has done it all!
JESUS DID IT FIRST:
The Mission, Motivation and the Magnitude
Mission: "Redeeming the Lost" Jesus put it this way in scripture:
Luke 19:10: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 2:49 "But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ( or some translations read.. "about my Father's business")
Simply said: His mission was to save people who needed saving. His "why" wasn't based on personal gain, or whether the receiving person was worthy or had done anything to warrant the restoration. It was very clearly based on His personal desire to be at one and at peace with not only the Holy Trinity we might recognize Him to be as disciples of Christ, but also a desire to have a trinity between Himself, His Father and You! A person's sinfulness was not a reason to avoid them; rather, it was a reason to seek them out.
Motivation: "Eternal Fellowship" Divinely Designed:
(Ephesians 1:4,5).Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. By this love God elects sinners unto salvation with all its blessings and entitlement to glory. It is the fountainhead of all blessings that accrue to the creature who in himself deserves nothing but eternal condemnation. This love is celebrated as the beginning of God’s dealing with man
(Romans 8:29; For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters
Humanity was created with a destination , a purpose.. an eternal communion with Jesus. We were literally made for heaven! Given the ultimate gift with that design was the secret ingredient of "Free Will" .. the most perfect and ingenious design a creator could ever come up with.
Imagine.. you create a work of art.. and give "it" the choice to be your friend for life.. instead of owing it's existence solely to you, simply because you engineered "it".
This Eternal understanding and core design was made to stand the test of time. God.. Lord Jesus with us.. does not forget the purpose of his masterpiece and went to great measures to secure our fullest existence by choice!
Magnitude: "At All Costs" Death is Defeated:
Romans 5:6-8): 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3:16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus' mission was so great that He was willing to die in order that eternal life in fellowship with us would be gained. We are worth dieing for!
My friends.. we are but a reflection of our great creator.. it is no wonder then that what drives us to give our life is to save another. Again, and again we have witnessed great heroes who have risked their lives, and many who went to their graves... without hope of resurrection. But why!? Because the magnitude of the desire to save another life was greater than to save their own. So then..
What is Your Why?
"Your Mission, Motivation and Magnitude"
As "Reflections" of Christ we can safely model our "Why" after His. In fact, I believe that it is the only way we can maintain our long-term goal to "Build a Bridge"
Successfully. Why not use the Master Engineer's Master Plan?
Use this next section as a "work through" to help you personalize your very own Bridge Building Design:
Build Your "Why"
Your Mission: "Saving the Lost"
Think about a relationship you want to restore, a Bridge you need to Build:
Why do you want to build your bridge?
If we use the model Jesus has given to us, we learn that a self-serving Why will never do. However if our ultimate goal is to restore this person first to Christ, and then maybe to ourselves, and think we can design an unshakable foundation.
Write down three reasons why want your person’s life to be restored to or to grow deeper into a personal relationship with Christ.
1)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your Motivation: "Fellowship"
What can keep you motivated to build your bridge?
A long bridge will become overwhelming at times because we can't see the other side for the first half. We need a great motivator to keep us going. Let's develop the importance of your desire for a Jesus minded fellowship with your person in mind.
Write down three reasons why you want to be in fellowship with this person. Why is this person special to you? Or why is it important to you that this person is an active part of your life?
1)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your Magnitude: "At All Costs"
What part of your Life are you willing to give up for the salvation of this relationship? What are you willing to sacrifice?
Many times, we see Jesus give up his personal space, time and eventually even His life for the sake of you and I. It was that important to Him. Saving someone’s life, or the life of a relationship will mean sacrifice of some part of who you are. Don't be afraid it will be too hard, remember You are a reflection of a perfect Creator, and He equipped you with the ability to do great things, to include building great bridges!
Write down three things you are willing to give up to Build a Bridge with this person. Sometimes this means giving forgiveness when it isn't deserved (another practice we Jesus demonstrate over and over). Or putting your pride on hold over a stronghold over a disagreement. Check in with your heart, I believe you will quickly discern what road blocks you might need to sacrifice in order to open up a path.
1)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FREE DOWNLOAD
(IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PRINT THIS STUDY GUIDE)
THIS IS YOUR PERSONAL STUDY GUIDE TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR WHY
(THE BUY NOW WILL NOT ASK YOU TO PAY)
Recommended Book of the Week
Comments