Crossing the Chasm

Who knew the same walk would yield yet another picture to write about?  Walking through a forest preserve, my friend captured a picture he titled, "Entanglement."  He told me the tree branches represented the vining trappings of what he considered the world (I called it sin).

Later he sent another picture called "Post Entanglement."  He said to me, "OK, I have overcome that problem, this addiction, but this is the world I still live in."  I told him sometimes, even the righteous still have problems and there sometimes is no explanation.  I told him even in the low times of calamity, God is still there with him.

Just this week, he sent this photo.  He said this represents the image of the bridge that crosses the chasm that is the world today.  He said he is pushing on.  He broke the bonds of entanglement, and he withstood the vast wasteland of post entanglement.

He said he did not do that alone.  God provided a bridge to cross the great divide.  He provided Jesus.  There is biblical truth to this statement.  The message in the gospels is that there is no path to heaven without Jesus.

Jesus told a parable about a rich man who found himself on the wrong side of a deep chasm, the place of the dead.  Across the void, the man saw a previous acquaintance in the place of Abraham, and he begged to cross the great divide.  Luke records this scripture, "And besides, there is a great chasm separating us.  No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there." ~Luke 16:26 (NLT).  Jesus told this parable to relate that after death, there are no more chances to cross over to heaven.  The choice to cross the chasm belongs solely to this life.  We need to accept Christ as our savior.  He alone is the bridge to our salvation.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday.  Go to church and hear about how Christ defeated death and rose from death to break the power of sin.

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~Romans 8:38-39 (NLT)