The Berlin Wall
Colossians 3:12-13 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
The 9th of November 1989 – twenty-eight years ago today – is a significant day in history. It’s certainly one of the most important in my lifetime and one that I’ll never forget.
It’s the day that the Berlin Wall started to come down after almost thirty years of dividing a nation, dividing a city, dividing communities and indeed, dividing families.
It was terrible how one day, they just started building the Wall. One side of the street ended up in West Berlin, the other in East Berlin. If a father went to work over there, he couldn’t get back home at the end of the day, because the wall had started to go up.
Families were literally torn apart. And people lost their lives, shot on sight, for trying to cross the Wall to be reunited with their loved ones.
The Berlin Wall stood as a powerful symbol of division, so I remember the TV footage of the celebrations in Berlin, across Germany and across the world, when it came tumbling down as it was torn down by the people.
It had torn so many families and lives apart, and on this day, twenty eight years ago, many were reunited, many were reconciled. No wonder there were celebrations. No wonder there was dancing in the streets.
But sadly, division still remains in many families and relationships today. Many, many people carry walls like that around in their hearts. Families that have split and haven’t talked to each other in years. You see churches that split. Communities that split.
You don’t need a physical wall to create division. No, sadly, the concept of the Berlin Wall remains alive and well. It repeats itself time and time again in so many communities, in so many families … in so many hearts.
What walls are you carrying around in your heart? What separations, what alienations hang over your life? What unforgiveness is robbing you of the relationships that God wants to bless you with?
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13)
Is it time for those walls to come down? Is it time for unforgiveness to be replaced with compassion and kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Is it time for dancing in the streets, to celebrate the freedom of reconciliation?
Come on, if you have some Berlin Walls of unforgiveness in your heart, it’s time to tear them down. Really, it is.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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