September 24
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (Jesus- John 14:6)
Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, our sins are forgiven. The debt is paid. The ransom received. The trial is over. Through Jesus’ work (all for us) our sins are judged, the wrath of God is assuaged, our guilty verdict is reversed – and we are liberated from every bondage that sin has brought into our lives. This is all wonderful news. And all this is God’s only provision for our sin problem.
However, it is the unfortunate tendency of some to turn to Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, but then… to forget the importance of life after receiving God’s amazing free gift. Jesus is not just our answer to sin and death – He is also the answer to righteousness and life. Jesus is not just our means of receiving God’s forgiveness – He is our means for living the rest of our lives, after our exoneration.
In fact, it is vital for us to understand that God forgives us precisely so our lives can actually mean something. Forgiveness is not the goal. It is the first essential step in the real plan that God has for us. It is the journey of life after we are forgiven that matters most to Him. Everything He has done… is for that purpose.
And Jesus is the central figure of that part of our lives as well.
We all know the verse (quoted above) so well. Maybe, too well. Once we are familiar with something we tend to forget WHY it is so important to us.
In the next few days, I want to draw our attention back to these words and focus on just how valuable they are to us – why we need Jesus every moment of our lives…
First, we need to understand the exclusive nature of Jesus’ words. Jesus is not only the way, the truth and the life…He is the ONLY way, truth, and life.
This is not a popular belief today. So many want to accept Jesus as one possible way, one possible truth, or one possible way of living. After all, “All roads lead to God… no one way is better than any other… everyone, who is sincere, deserves to freely seek their own path to God.”
While this carries the vestments of contemporary wisdom – it is not what Jesus told us. It is not what He would have us understand. To remain “open-minded” to the “all-roads” philosophy is to make Jesus a liar… or a deceiver… or worse.
But the credibility of Jesus’ words is backed up by the credibility of His life. When we look at Jesus, we recognize the impeccable quality of His character. Even His enemies were impressed with Him as a Person… and voiced that fact (John 3:2; 11:47; Mt. 22:16). His very life was a commitment to righteousness and truth. Why would He tell us something that wasn’t right, or mislead us from the absolute truth?
When we think about it, the whole of Christianity is based upon the Person of Jesus. We cannot overemphasize enough just how vital He is to people’s lives.
What is more… He makes Himself readily accessible and available for ANYONE who will place their trust in Him. Even today.
If we want to know the secret to life and living, we need only look to one Person. The One Who came to give His life so that we might know the abundance and fullness of life (John 10:10), in a real relationship with our Creator.
Prayer Focus: God, allow me to see the vital importance of placing Jesus in the center of my life… that I might experience the fullness of life in Him.
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