Crossing that Bridge

“We’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it.” Have you ever used that expression? Typically when we refer to crossing a bridge somewhere down the road we are talking about a future decision that will have to made. Someone might present a hypothetical situation: “What will we do if…?” Our response might be, “We’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it.” We will make that decision if and when the situation actually presents itself. 

Usually when we use that expression we are hoping to never actually cross that bridge. We might as well be saying, “Hopefully we won’t have to make that decision, because hopefully we won’t have to cross that bridge.” We hope those dreaded future events never come to pass. 

But that way of thinking isn’t always responsible. There are many bridges in life that we will come to and that we must cross. If we wait until we come to the bridge, it will be too late to decide how to cross it. A responsible person is prepared for many of life’s bridges. Things like medical or life insurance, savings or retirement accounts, and spare change or spare tires all show that a person is preparing to cross a bridge before they arrive at it. 

We also need to make spiritual preparations before we come to certain bridges. The Bible says that one day every knee will bow…and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).” That is a bridge everyone will cross; everyone will bow before Jesus and confess Him as Lord. However, that passage needs to be properly understood. Many of us have bowed our knees before Jesus already, and we daily confess Him as Lord. But many people do not. If they choose not to bow and confess in this lifetime, they will do so in judgment after life. People need to be ready to cross that bridge while they are still alive. 

That is because there is another bridge we all must cross. Hebrews 9:27 says it “is appointed unto man once to die, and after this is the judgment.” Every person has an appointed time to die. We need to be ready for that appointment because there is a very real judgment that will follow. When it comes to matters like death and judgment, we cannot sit back and say, “We’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it.” We are going to come to it. That bridge is coming, but the problem is, we don’t know when to expect the bridge. 

We all need to be ready to cross that bridge because it is a certainty. If you came up to that bridge today, are you ready for it? Have you already bowed your knee and confessed Jesus as Lord? You need to be ready now. You need to do that before your appointment with death.