All things on earth, including the earth itself, have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are villages in some parts of the world built upon the successive ruins of as many as nine previous communities on the same site. Beginnings, middles, and ends are pervasive throughout the known universe. It is hard to imagine any reality other than “time.”

Nevertheless, there is one reality, intimately close to us, and also far away, who does not have a beginning, a middle, or an end: the very Spirit of our God. For this reason we sometimes have trouble imagining Him, or even praying to Him. He seems so unlike us that we hardly know Him.

The first clue in the Bible that God intends to share the lives of His own creation is this: Let us create man in our own image, in our own likeness. . . (Genesis 1:26) God had many ways of revealing Himself to people in the Old Testament. None of those were wasted, but God knew that the great divide between Himself and His creation would have to be bridged by Himself. While human beings barely knew Him, and He wanted more than a casual relationship, He knew that He must send Himself as a human being with a beginning in Bethlehem, a middle in Israel and Samaria, and an end on the cross of Golgotha. Jesus would be the bridge between humans who live in time, and God Himself, who lives in eternity.

To make sure that people understood his relationship to his Father, Jesus said to some leaders of the people, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the son also does.” (John 5:19) When asked, “What must we do to do the works that God requires?”, Jesus answered , “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.” (John 6:28) These words of Jesus convey life itself to those who believe, for they are an invitation to join the bridge and become part of the very relationship between God and His son. His words are common, but their meaning had never been expressed before he said them. He speaks of a relationship between beings who are confined in time, and a Being who lives in eternity. Jesus, the bridge, is vital to both His Father, and to us. Through him we reach the Father and become part of the family God sought at creation.

Love in Him,

Prue