The Bridge

God has a story – a powerful story; and our job is to learn to tell it well.  What would you say if someone in your current sphere of influence were to come to you today and say something like this: “You know, we’ve been friends for a long time. And you’ve never forced your “God-thing” on me, and I appreciate that.  I just wonder if you could explain the whole deal to me.  What is it about God that people are attracted to?  Is God really all that necessary in life?”

So, how would you respond to your friend?  There are several ways to explain God’s story – as revealed in the Bible.  One way is called “The Bridge.”  You may be familiar with this illustration.  The Bridge is quite simple, really, but it is a powerful way to illustrate precisely what God, through Jesus Christ, did for people.

The next time you find yourself in a conversation where the person you’re talking to really does want to understand who God is and what he has done, grab a piece of scratch paper or napkin, and ask their permission to sketch out this bridge.  It’s an image they won’t soon forget.  Here’s how it goes . . .

For starters, we have to establish the reality of two beings: people and God.  Between people and God is a great chasm – a division that exists because of people’s propensity to rebel against God’s ways and go their own way.  The Bible calls this “sin.”

The dilemma people face is that we want to get to God but know we can’t just leap over the chasm.  So, we try exerting human effort (morality, good works, religion, etc.), hoping we can get the bridge built.  In the end, we realize that all the human effort in the world will never be enough to get us to the other side.

But thankfully, God sympathized with our dilemma.  And because he loved us so much, he intervened so that we would have a means of getting close to him.  His solution was to send His Son, Jesus, to serve as the bridge.

 If you remember nothing else about the bridge illustration, remember this: Christ came to earth to be our bridge, and whoever makes the decision to cross the bridge will live with God forever.  The apostle John put it this way in John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (NIV). May we be faithful in telling God’s story!!