New York

Crossing the Bridge

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8 NIV

When I was about fourteen our parents often took my younger sister and I on day trips to the museums in New York. Like the average young boy I was hoping to see dinosaurs , but my step-father decided it was a better education to trudge through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim or anyplace filled with paintings. One day after bringing us over to the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn they decided to head back to Manhattan for lunch. At first I could hear mom say, “Look, there’s the Empire State building, just head that way and we’ll get there!” So, my step-dad headed through downtown Brooklyn towards the landmark which they could see in the distance. I don’t recall much except hearing him say, “I’m not going to stop and ask for directions. They always tell me to turn around and go the other way!” So they just kept driving, always keeping what was then the tallest skyscraper in New York in view. Unfortunately, when we came to the river our parents suddenly realized that they had forgotten they needed to cross a bridge!

Life is often like that. We are pretty sure we know where we need to be going and how to get there but we have forgotten that we need to cross God’s bridge. In Psalm 32, David shares with us how God had helped him out of the very lost part of his life, when he had sinned by having an affair with Bathsheba. But before he could receive God’s promise, David had to stop and ask directions – an act we call repentance. We often delay this as long as possible, because we know that, just like my step-dad, we will be told to turn around and go in the opposite direction.

But, if we will just humble ourselves and admit we are going the wrong way, God has a wonderful promise. First, He says that He will instruct us – In other words He will open His GPS app, called the Bible, and show us the way to the bridge. Next, God promises to teach us. In other words He gives step by step directions at every turn. But the best part comes at the end of the verse when He promises is to guide us with His eye. What an amazing Savior we serve. He is watching right now, wondering what we will do when we finally realize we need to find the bridge! He is always waiting for us to stop and ask for His help and forgiveness. When we do this, He promises that He will lovingly keep His eye on us by coming down, sitting next to us and riding alongside all the way across the river!

Heaven’s Beauty Shop

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Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

When my grandfather came from Italy, he became a barber and most of his six children also ended up cutting hair for a living. Of course, dad helped in the shop while he was growing up, but after coming home from the war, he decided that coiffing lady’s hair paid way better than barbering, so he got his license as a hairdresser.

By the time I was a teen-ager Dad had his own shop and he closed on Mondays to clean the store. Some of our best talks revolved around our times sweeping the floor together and cleaning out the hair driers.  Dad always loved telling funny things about the business and one of his favorites was that even though he charged to wash their hair, the ladies always made sure to wash it before they came to the shop. They just could not bear the thought of dad finding hair that wasn’t already squeaky clean!

Now you might think that pretty ridiculous, but don’t we sometimes do the same thing with God? He invites us to come to church (Heaven’s beauty shop) with our dirty hair and all. But instead, we decide that we need to get cleaned up at home first, or if we do show up, we just worship halfheartedly because we feel unworthy to really participate.

But the craziest part of all is that, unlike dad’s clientele, we do not even have to pay the bill. Instead, God has chosen to pay in advance at Calvary, for everything that we need. He is not angry when we show up with needs and problems, instead He is delighted to take up our burden of sin and in exchange give us His yoke of grace. Then He gently lifts away the condemnation of guilt and in exchange leaves us a burden of His love that we have the privilege to carry all the way home!

Forgiveness is an Investment

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“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’  So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’  And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.

Matthew 18:28-30

Many years ago I heard an interview on Radio Bible. The questioning went something like this,

Host: To what do you attribute your business success?”

Business man “Good decisions”“

Host “And how did you learn to make good decisions?”

Businessman “Bad decisions!”

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In our personal relationships with others we are always making decisions. We may decide to trust or to doubt. We may choose to forgive or hold a grudge. Each decision is an investment (or lack thereof) in the life of someone else. You might look at the king’s choice to forgive in the parable which Jesus told as a bad business decision. He could have legally sold this dishonest servant into slavery to recover some of his loss or he could have had him thrown in jail. But instead of richly deserved punishment, this king decided to invest mercy in his servant’s life.

Yet as in this man’s story it appears that the king had made a terrible choice. Instead of generating a return of gratitude in his servant’s heart, this forgiven man went immediately out and acted mercilessly with others. “What a waste! What an awful decision!” you might say about the king’s investment. You might also add, “So he should never do that again!”

But mercy is not like a worldly investment. Jesus parable shows how God forgives each of us. We are exactly like the dishonest thieving servant. We have cheated and stolen and yet God has for two thousand years continued to invest forgiveness in us. How often we must have grieved God’s heart when we failed entirely in our response to his mercy! Is there someone today in whom we can begin to invest even a tiny part of the forgiveness God has given us?