Tear Down Those Walls

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7

God’s love transcends class, race, gender, politics, geography, and culture.‘He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance … Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility’ (see Ephesians 2:14-16 MSG). The cross creates a new people: a people unhindered by skin color or family feud. A new citizenry, based not on common ancestry or geography, but on a common Savior. ‘Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.’ So confront your prejudice and root out your biases. Do you remember President Ronald Reagan standing at the Berlin Wall in 1987, saying, ‘Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall’? We’ve isolated, quarantined, excluded, and judged people long enough. Let’s tear down our walls and show God’s love!

Prayer
Lord, reveal them to me. How often do I judge someone unworthy of You by the way I treat him or her? Rebuke me in Your love. Where can I tear down a wall or remove a barrier that keeps Your children apart from one another? What can I do in my sphere of influence to bring the love of Christ to someone who may feel ostracized or estranged from You? Give me divine insight, and bless me with the resolve to be Your hands and feet. Make me a bridge and not a wall. Amen