Crossing at the Bridge
Good Morning Friends,
Growing up in Southern Illinois I remember going on rides in my dad’s truck. We had bench seats…no seatbelts. Top speeds were around 40 miles an hour, but we slowed way down in the crossing of bridges. I remember crossing the Little Muddy River, Big Muddy River and the Mississippi River during the rainy season. I remember one sign saying “Bridge Out.” I had not yet learned to swim and even if I had, trying to forge these bodies of water on my own would have been deadly.
Murky and monstrous begins to describe them when they are flooding. And the Mississippi River during the dry season only has the illusion of a smooth surface. Like our own emotions coursing through us, below the surface the currents cut and tug and push in the best of times. The safe way to get across the deep and rolling divide was Crossing at the Bridge.
Scripture: One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.”
Luke 8:22a (NIV)
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:4-11 (NRSV)
Message: Wherever we are Jesus is calling us to go across to the other side. We are to proceed with caution. We are to stop letting sin reign in our lives. We are to yield to the Lord, learning to cross at the bridge made for our passage. The problem is that it is dark and the bridge is narrow. Only two people can cross at a time. In time the bridge will be washed away. To make matters worse it is as dark as night in this life without the light needed when crossing the bridge. Friends, there is a way that leads to destruction and a way that leads to life. The question is whether we can make it across before the bridge is washed out.
Pray we realize that Christ is the bridge. Pray we realize that only Christ can carry the light. Pray we do not fear. Pray we cross with Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 