Bridging the Gap

What is a bridge? The specific definition according to www.dictionary.com is:
1. a structure spanning and providing passage over a river, chasm, road, or the like.

2. a connecting, transitional, or intermediate route or phase between two adjacent elements, activities, conditions, or the like: Working at the hospital was a bridge between medical school and private practice 1

When we cross a bridge we do it one step at a time. A bridge doesn’t transport us immediately from one place to another, it provides a way, a support, for us to cross a chasm or body of water that is too deep or too treacherous for us to have crossed otherwise. Jesus Christ became the bridge for us to cross from being alone, without direction, without hope, without faith; to a place of healing, wholeness, purpose, love, and hope.

In this life as we cross this bridge, I believe we many times lose sight of the goal or direction He gives. There are people along the way telling us that Christ isn’t really all that He says He is. They tell us He is not full of grace, mercy, and love. The reality is He is not only full of love for us, He IS LOVE.

What they are trying to take from us is our hope; they try to take our expectation. One of greatest things we can lose is our expectation. Do you have an expectation about what God has in store for you? Has skepticism set in, bringing along with it an attitude of ‘I’ll believe it when I see it?’

You know the scenes in movies where someone is crossing a bridge, only to look down at the rushing river beneath them and get caught up in fear of what’s below rather than the stability of the bridge supporting them, making a way to their destination. When Christ is the ‘bridge’ we are standing on, we don’t have to worry about the turmoil, the churning tumultuous water swirling beneath us, but we can rely on and rest in Him. We do that by keeping our focus on Him, by keeping our mind stayed on Him.

We serve a God that has huge plans for our lives, and as Christians we need to open our hearts and minds to the greatness of God. We should have an expectation of walking into things that we would not have believed if someone had told us! Habakkuk 14:5 tells us to “look at the nations and be amazed! Watch and be astounded at what I will do! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it!”

Do you walk with that kind of expectation? Are you looking to be amazed? Are you looking to be blown away by the greatness of God? Are you looking to be astounded by what God wants to do through you?

Eph 1:18-20 says “ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.19 I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”
What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe? Are there dreams in your life that you thought too big for you? Are there things in your life that you have put aside?
CS Lewis wrote in ‘The Weight of Glory’ the following passage that has stuck with me ever since I read it. “…if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak… like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he can not imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

God has called us to live a life full of freedom, pursuing Him and the places He’s prepared for us. God has called us to a great adventure with Him we just need to continue taking steps forward toward that destination – toward that vision and dream.

How often do we settle because we are told that we need to be content with what we have? How often do we wallow where we are at in life because we are told that there is not anything more for us here? That is so far from the truth! The truth of God is that he desires for us to walk into wonderful things. To be a part of the things He is doing today in the world! He designed us to be in relationship with Him. Christ came to this earth and died so that a way would be made for relationship with the Father – a bridge.