21 Day Experiment-Day 14

“No way!“ My older son used to exclaim to his younger brother when something amazing or unexpected had just happened. To which his little brother would answer back,” Way!”

Way can describe a course of action. Or directions to a destination: “What’s the quickest way to go to the beach?” A method of doing something: “What’s the best way to prepare a healthy meal?”  Or execute a good golf swing?

The word way in the Bible comes from hodos, translated “road.” It can describe our course of life, conduct, or behavior. The “way of the Lord” is the revealed will of God. That’s why the early church was called “The Way,” well before believers were referred to as “Christians.”

But the word way brings up an important question:  “Is Jesus the only way to God?”  Some people believe that Jesus is simply one of many ways.  Sounds appealing at first—easier to swallow. Until you think about the reality that without Jesus, there is no firm assurance of the forgiveness of sins. No promise of eternity in Heaven.

There are really only two world’s religions, as my husband David often says:

1. You’re saved by perfectly obeying a standard of rules or laws, thus trying to work your way to God. Impossible for imperfect humans.
2. Or you are saved by grace. You accept Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as full payment for all your sins and follow Him as the only way to God.

My watchword for today from John Chapter 14 is short and simple:   

I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

People the world over would agree that Jesus was a “good man, wonderful teacher, a true humanitarian.” But not the only way to God.

Yet Jesus, Himself, claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah and the only way to the Father. Such a claim—if not true—makes Him an out-and-out liar. The very same man people esteem as a great moral teacher would be the greatest of imposters.  Or as C.S. Lewis so eloquently put it, Jesus is “a liar, a legend, a lunatic, or the truth.” I would also add, He is the “Way.”

Prayer: Lord, I pray for Your Holy Spirit to open the door to a conversation with my friend ___________ who has been seeking You—but just doesn’t know it yet.