M2M is proud to support Bridge2913. They equip believers to engage their circle of influence and provide peers with the opportunity to seek and find Christ. Here’s an inspiring post from their site.
Scottish pastor Thomas Chalmers wrote, “The best way to overcome the world is not with morality or self-discipline. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ.”
Over the years, I found that my students often saw Christianity as a list of rules that told them to never have any fun or joy or passion. They believed God wanted to force them to adhere to a code of rules that would sterilize their existence and freeze the boiling lifeblood that pulsed so powerfully in their veins. Indeed, this perception of Christianity has enjoyed popularity throughout time, even among some of the greatest minds in history. The poet William Blake, in his poem ‘The Garden of Love’ wrote, “And the gates of this Chapel were shut/And ‘Thou shalt not,’ writ over the door…And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds/And binding with briars my joys and desires.”
I must confess that I, too, for many years thought in this same fashion. Then, something incredible happened. I opened my heart to a deep and personal relationship with Christ. And he is something so beautiful, that what once seemed to glimmer in the world lost its appeal. I experienced what Christ promised by saying that in his love, we can have ‘life to the full’ and that ‘streams of living water’ would flow through us. I learned, by experiencing Christ’s love, the truth of Chalmers’ quote. Christianity is not about behavior modification. It is not about some stern morality that binds our joys and desires. It is learning that Christ fulfills us and gives us joy far beyond what the world ever could.
That is what Bridge 2913 seeks to help students discover. We don’t want to bind them and shake our fingers at them. We want to help them find something beautiful!