The Bible says something incredible about how to bridge the gap between people and God. God saw the chasm that separated fallen people like you and me from Him. He saw the infinite distance it really was – vaster than any of us could ever realise. God understood that no amount of human effort or resourcefulness would ever be enough to bridge it. So, because he loves us, He took the responsibility Himself and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for us all.
God’s story
This is God’s story – and we have the incredible privilege of carrying this message of the greatest news ever known. Because of what Christ has done for you, you can confidently tell your friends and family that the path to God is right there in front of them.
The act of being baptised is a way of witnessing to your faith. It’s an opportunity to share God’s story with people in your life. It’s also a first step in sharing the power of the gospel with other people, too. So, when you’re sensing spiritual openness in a conversation, what’s the best way to communicate this life-transforming path?
Take some time to discuss some of the following pictures and then commit yourself to remembering at least one of them, to help you tell God’s story with focus and passion.
The explanation of this illustration is clear and easy to memorise: on one side of the bridge is God. On the other side are people. Between God and people is a great chasm that exists because of people’s inclination to rebel against God’s way and go their own way instead. The Bible calls this “sin”.
The problem people face is that we want to get to God, but we realise we can’t just leap over the chasm. So we try by our own effort to get over it. In the end, we realise that all the effort in the world will never be enough to get us to the other side.
But God understood that no amount of effort would ever be enough to bridge the gap. So, motivated by love, God took the responsibility Himself. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for us all. And so the cross became the bridge between us and God.
Every religion ultimately suggests that you should attempt to bridge the gap between you and God through your own efforts. In a sense, religion is spelt “D-O”. At the end of the day, it’s all about whether you DO enough right things to earn God’s favour, or somehow DO enough to balance out the bad.
Every religion teaches this, that is, except one: Christianity. Christianity is spelt “D-O-N-E”. The Bible says that what Christ did on the cross is enough. He has DONE what you and I could never do – he satisfied God’s requirement for a perfect life so he could be a perfect sacrifice for our sin. Because of what Christ did on the cross, your sins can be forgiven and you can find favour in God’s eyes right here, right now. The work that must occur to pay for sin and obtain eternal access to God has already been DONE.
Sometimes people are unclear about the meaning of sin and the real nature of God’s moral standards. They might think that they live a “good” life, and that they don’t really need God. But Romans 6.23 explains:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
One way to talk about this is to think of a ladder or scale.
You can say: “Look, supposing on this wall there’s a ladder or scale of all the people who have ever lived. The very worst person is at the bottom, and the very best person is at the top.”
Then you can ask: “Who would you put at the bottom?”
People might say: Adolf Hitler or Stalin (or their boss!)
And then you could ask, “Now, who do you think is the best person who’s ever lived?”
And people might say: Mother Teresa, or their mother, or someone else.
Then we can explain: “I think you’d agree that all of us are somewhere in between one level and another. Most people would agree with that.” You could even suggest where they might be on the ladder.
But then you can ask: “What do you think the standard is?”
Someone can look up and down and say: “Perhaps the ceiling is the standard”
But you can explain: “No, look at the verse …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… the standard is not the ceiling or the top rung of the ladder—it’s the sky. Because the greatness and holiness of God was revealed in Jesus, and compared to him we all fall a long way short.”