[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.” We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]
The Only Way by Jonathan Holmes
Read: John 14:1-14
The passage occurs in the process of the Upper Room Discourse of John chapters 13 through 17, where Jesus is delivering His final instructions just hours prior to His crucifixion. You can hear the fear in the disciples’ voices as Jesus tells them that he is leaving them. In John 14:6, Jesus responds to Thomas’ fearful question with, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus is the only way.
The definite article ‘the’ leaves no room for multiple routes or paths to God. Jesus is THE only way to God, for He is God. There are no actions, achievements, credentials, goodness, karma, zen, or deeds that can bridge the chasm separating man from God in a Genesis 3 (fallen) world. This is directly counter to what the world fundamentally believes and practices.
Christianity holds dear the belief that Jesus is the ONLY way to God and that not “all religions lead to the same god.” This is a fundamental an historic Christian belief. The world rejects narrow thinking like Christianity’s exclusivity. However, it is this same narrow logic which allows the very function of the world as we know it. For example, computers and smart phones function through a set of instructions known as a programming language. The language was written by the creator of the language, and this creator or writer laid out all the functions of the language in a specific manner. The language is exact and specific. The language allows for no variance or deviation.
In fact, the program written in the programming language must be narrow, concise and perfectly conforming, in order for the program to function correctly all the time. We have a word for when the program has an error in the written instruction. We call them ‘bugs.’ When the way of the programming language is violated the phone does not call, does not find Google, or the computer does not pull up YouTube.
Jesus tells Thomas, “I am the way to myself.” Jesus is saying that everything about me is the way. He says “follow me,” in fact “follow and be like me; how I lived life.” We are to live as Jesus lived: walk, talk, pray, fast, discipline ourselves, love, sacrifice, and ultimately lay down our lives, and our pride just like Jesus did.
Questions:
•Why is Christianity’s exclusivity a common reason for rejecting the faith?
•Does it give you hope that Jesus provides the way to “crush the head” of sin and its effects in your life?
Prayers for Lent:
•Thank God for fulfilling the promise of salvation.
•Ask God for greater faith in His timing and plan.