The Bridge by Lisa Burkhardt Worley
“I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6, NIV)
On a recent trip to Prague we stayed in a hotel on the other side of the Vitava River, the division between where we were and the town square. There was no way to get to the heart of the city without making the walk across the Charles Bridge. We could see the beauty of the city from our perspective. We also witnessed some activity, but it was not the same as being there—up close and personal. Once we arrived at the square, it was full of activity. There were great restaurants and souvenir shops. There were other tourists like us—taking in the beauty of Prague. Yet, it was something we would have never experienced had we not crossed the bridge.
This is similar to our spiritual lives. We all have to make a decision, Do we cross the bridge to faith in Jesus Christ or not? We either believe what he said when he proclaimed, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” or we choose to stand on the other side of the bridge and see a hazy outline of the Christian life.
For those of us who have made the trek over the bridge that leads to eternal life, our spiritual enemy might tempt us to look back. He reminds us of our past shortcomings. He tries to tell us we are not worthy to have crossed the bridge and that we need to return to our old ways. That’s when we have to speak back to the voice and proclaim truth: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37–39, NIV).
Jesus is the bridge. He is the bridge to peace. He is the bridge to joy. He is the bridge to our heavenly Father, but by faith, we have to believe this and experience the kingdom of God in a more vivid and intimate way.
If you have crossed the bridge, do you find yourself looking back to your past life? If so, what is your plan to keep moving forward?
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