Jesus, the Only Way: Intolerant or Invaluable?

It is difficult to spend a lot of time with a person who always insists there is only one way to do things – their way! It’s nice to have options, to exercise the freedom of choosing what we would like. Years ago a fast food chain imprinted the power of choice in our minds with the advertizing campaign: “Have it your way!” Frank Sinatra gave added credibility to the idea we need to have things the way we want with his classic rendition of the song, “My Way”.

So it is difficult for people to be positive when somebody comes along and says, “No, in certain matters, you don’t have a choice. There is only one way.” In regard to knowing who God is, what he means to us and how to have a personal relationship with him, that is exactly what Jesus Christ says. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through the Son.” By itself, such a statement seems to be the product of megalomania. However, that statement anchored on the historical and physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, means human beings can have certainty when it comes to answering life’s most important questions.

Jesus as the only way to knowing God and eternal life was just as controversial when his disciples began to preach as it is today. This Sunday we’ll be studying an account from the book of Acts in which Peter and John, after being confronted about healing a man paralyzed from birth, boldly responded that the power of the miracle came from Jesus Christ. And then they told those listening, “For there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

If life is comfortable and pleasant at this particular moment, you may be inclined to see Jesus’ claim as the “only way” to be intolerant. But get outside your present situation and think about what lays ahead in life – times of difficulty, even suffering. How do you want to face heartbreak, financial ruin, failing health and eventually death? Do you want to pray, “God, if you are out there and you can do something about my situation, I’d really appreciate a little favor”? Or do you want to pray with the certain confidence, “God is my refuge and strength an ever present help in trouble because if God did not withhold his Son but gave him up for us all through his death on the cross, will he not also graciously give us all things”? For the earthquakes of life, we need certainty, the certainty of not only knowing who God is, but that he will use everything in all creation to do for us what is best.

Join us this Saturday evening (6:00 pm) or Sunday morning (10:00 am) to see how invaluable it is that Jesus is the only way.