Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
We live in a world where all religions are created equal. The United States was founded on the principle that people can worship or refrain from worship however they choose in total freedom, and in that environment we have people from all faith systems. The culture around us encourages us to believe one of two things: all faith systems are valid or no faith systems are valid. That sounds nice, but Jesus himself didn’t support such a line of thinking.
Jesus, the one upon whom Christianity is founded, made a very unpopular claim of exclusivity when he said the only way to the Father is through him. It’s exclusive because of what he said and not because Christians have tried to make it that way. But take note of this: other faith systems are based on behavior – did I behave good enough to get into heaven? Did my good deeds outweigh my bad ones? Not so with Christianity. Everyone gets in the same way: through Christ by believing that he died for our sins.
All faith systems aren’t equal, and to claim that Christianity is just like all of the others isn’t doing it justice.
In fact, if Jesus weren’t telling the truth, then he must have been a liar or a crazy person. I don’t particularly want to give my life to a crazy person or one who builds his life on lies and encourages people down an untrue path. And yet there’s truth to the fact that I can’t ever behave good enough – no matter how much resolve I have – to earn my way into the good graces of any deity. Thankfully, Christianity isn’t about what you do; it’s about trusting in what was done in your behalf.
Father, thank You for seeing my utter inability to live up to Your demands of perfection. In Your grace, thank You for sending Jesus to die for me. Help me to remember that I can’t do anything that will earn a place in heaven, but I can get there by what Jesus did for me.
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