Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." John 14:6 (NASB)
Why does society think that the idea of Jesus as the only way to Heaven is bad? It thinks that God is selfish by providing only one way. My question then is why is one way so bad if you know what it is? Seems we can buy books and CDs and watch television shows to tell us about how to do something and that is not bad. If you opened a cookbook to get a recipe for a dish and there was only one recipe, would you curse the writer of the book for only giving you one way to prepare Chicken a la King? If you then added ingredients that were not part of the recipe, would you expect the same dish to come out of the oven?
For further reflection, let's say you were traveling to an island for vacation. This was touted as the most beautiful place on earth and there was only one bridge available to get you to it. Would you curse the town on the island for only building one bridge or would you take the one bridge to get to there?
The same is true for Heaven, there is only one road. Jesus is our bridge to Heaven. He laid down his life on the cross to establish that roadway for us to get to that beautiful place with streets of gold where He has gone to prepare mansions for each of us. (John 14:2) Why would you not accept His gift of grace and accept the offer to live eternally in a beautiful place? Does the idea of "having to" worship God seem unfair for the glory of eternal life?
It seems Satan would have us to believe these days that we are all good and worthy of going to Heaven, if we so deem ourselves better than the next guy. Since when did God make this a competition to compare ourselves to other humans? He never gave us the life of a "regular old human" as our precedent, He sent us a sinless lamb to be slaughtered as our benchmark. Since we can never attain those standards, we must accept His grace. We are constantly feeling as though we "deserve" so many things in our lives: civil rights, the right to choose and live as we please, the right to say what we want, and on an on. Why then, is it so hard for us to accept that we are given the most wonderful gift in the world yet we refuse to accept the giver as having good intentions. Why is it that God is so unfair if He asks you to accept His gift to you as truth? Is it because He only sent one gift and we were expecting a huge party full of gifts from which to pick and choose? Would we be so bold as to refuse the wedding gift from the Father of the Bridegroom?
These are just some things to consider for today. We must begin to understand the joy of worshiping a God which we were created to worship anyway. Being a servant to the Almighty is a much better job that being a slave to Satan and sin.
Ramona this is a beautifully written post and one that I will ponder for the day!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more writings like this.
I can see you have a heart that Loves our Lord God. Rejoicing in his holy name!
Have a beautiful day my friend :)
Blessings
Great analogies of other things that have only one way: recipe, bridge.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your very sweet comment on my blog. It warms my heart that I am still being used to touch new souls in this great big blog-o-sphere.
Sweet blessings,
Paula
Well put. It is the mystery and paradox of election. It is hard to see because "they are blind" and hard for us to understand that there are some who are just not part of the elect. It is a wonderful, mysterious paradox of our God this cross contamination of election and free will that manifests itsef in our world by watching people who know and hear the Way ignore it.
ReplyDeleteThe Way of salvation is simple but it is not EASY. One must contradict all the worlds teachings, all of satans lies, and all the genetic callings of our flesh and truly come to the realization that "I am a sinner. I am as filthy rags before God. I deserve death for my sin. I in my present condition are of no worth to God." Only then can one "see" and "hear" and "believe" by God's granting of faith. This is the hard part. It breaks a persons spirit. It severs them to the soul. It is not easy but oh how wonderfully fulfilling is the outcome when Jesus says I hear you and I've got you!
The "one way" forces an individual to proceed through this process. The "other ways" allow them to conjure up whatever image appeases their conscience to gain a ticket to heaven and frees them from confronting the issue that they need SALVATION which implies something is broken and they can't fix it. What a terrible trap and let's pray for true conviction to all those who have not confessed Jesus.
Love you
Yes, I love your analogies! Especially the one about the bridge. But society rejects the truth. It does not appeal to their flesh or rationale. Most people do not want to give their lives away; they want to cling to ambition and greed and other worldly values.
ReplyDeleteBut thank God for His saving grace! I'm so glad Jesus is THE way, truth, and life!
Precious words so fitly spoken as always!
God bless, and take care.
With Christ's Love,
Andrea