Back where we came from, they used bricks and mortar to construct their houses. Those bricks are relatively small; three-and one-half inches by two and one quarter inches by eight inches long. So, to build an average home you will need over eight thousand bricks.
The day these bricks arrive on the property they are trucked over with a crew of workers to offload and stack them on the sidewalk. Can you visualize this brick pile standing in rows, about five-foot-high and eight to ten-foot-long, ready for the builders to use?
Now imagine a man walking past picks up one of those bricks and carries it to the other side of the road. Nobody is going to miss one brick! But suppose this man moves a brick over to the other side of the road every time he goes by, slowly a small pile of bricks will start to appear on that side of the road. If he continues to do so eventually all those bricks will land up on the other side of the street.
Here I see a picture of a broken life. The first pile of bricks could represent the fragmented part of a person’s life. This would be the place where one felt unloved and unwanted by the world. This is a desolate place of loneliness that many people feel trapped in: No matter what they do they feel they are wrong and others continually condemn them. It often leads the person to be deeply depressed.
What if somebody came along picked up one of those ‘broken bricks’, loved it and moved it to a better place. The broken heart is not immediately mended. For a short time that person feels a fleeting touch of a caring voice encouraging them, but it’s soon over.
But consider that this person keeps on picking up one of those bricks, loves on it and places it in a better place, you will slowly see a little bit of that broken heart being restored.
At first, the loved pile seems insignificant and the hurt pile still looms high and threatening in the person’s life.
Have you ever seen how easy it is to follow the leader? Soon many people are touching this person’s life and loving them. And the job is complete.
As Christians we should be the front runners in reaching out with the love of our Saviour to touch the unlovable wretch that others walk past daily.
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’ Matthew 25: 40.
