This day and age is defined by high levels of polarization, especially around race and politics, and it can get personal fast. In today’s cancel-culture, we are led to believe that people are too far gone for us to even attempt to build bridges yet I believe building bridges is the work of those who follow Christ.

He demonstrated love for us in emptying himself of his rights, privileges, and power to teach us a better way forward. This is the Christ we follow, and we join him in emptying ourselves of our rights, privileges, reputations, expectations, and even disappointments to walk a life that embodies love and forgiveness.
 
To love the Father and to be about his kingdom here on earth means we don’t withhold good when it is in our power to do good (Proverbs 3:27 and James 4:17). We don’t get to burn bridges with no hope of redemption. We cannot hate enemies and we cannot be unforgiving to people, no matter how we are perceived in return (Matthew 5:43-45 and Luke 6:27-28).

If we believe in the power of restoration and redemption, we also must believe that no one is too far gone. Everyone can reverse course and walk toward freedom and shared liberation. We must be willing to do what we can, where we can, to support the restoration process for everyone - even those in our family of God.

This is really hard! Much like the older brother in the parable of the lost son, I was fine to no longer have Christians who disagreed with me, labeled me a liberal and thought I was a sub-Christian because I did “social justice” work. I was fine to no longer have them as a part of my daily life, but that is not of the Father nor is it of his kingdom.