JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

"Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'" [John 14:6 (NLT)]

What does it mean to believe what Jesus said above?

What does it mean NOT to believe it?

I firmly believe that you can only come to know if what Jesus said is true or not when the Holy Spirit gives you the gift of faith and you receive that gift. There are many, many people who have spent a lot of time denying the most important statement that Jesus made about Himself.

And you cannot come to believe unless you have opened your heart to the Lord. When you do that, the Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus Christ to you.

So much evil has been done in the name of religion. Even today, we hear only a small portion of the way people are suffering and dying, fleeing from their homes and being forced to live in exile. Just in the last twenty years, millions of people have died because of genocide in former Yugoslavia, in Syria, in Iraq, in Iran and in Afghanistan just due to persecution because of their cultural background and confessed beliefs.

But there is a big difference between institutionalized, politicized religion and faith. Faith is necessary to have a spiritual relationship with God. On the other hand, religion is more intellectual and materialistic. Institutionalized, politicized religion is directed by human beings and can be twisted to be a tool of violence, persecution and abuse.

Every moment of every day each one of us has a chance to develop a relationship with the God we can begin to come to know through the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament based on the life and teachings of Jesus and his followers. The Bible in total is full of narrations about the relationship of God the Creator and particular individuals and/or groups of people.

Each one of us also give a narration about our relationship with God the Creator. Maybe it is a very short story that you deny that God exists. Perhaps you call yourself agnostic and have never had a reason to believe in God. You might have been raised in a culture where you were taken to worship and learn the beliefs of your people. Or you could have found your way to a church or to another kind of religious establishment and come to believe what you learned there,

Human beings are spiritual. We live in a material world and our bodies are flesh and blood, but our lives are not bound only by the material. And our bodies, minds, spirits and souls are not separate entities. We cannot be truly complete as human beings unless we allow the spiritual part of ourselves to be a vibrant part of our lives.

There are so many reasons today why people get turned off by Christianity and by the activities of some people who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, only people who truly come to know God in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit can have a relationship with God and come to know what Jesus meant when He said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The Spirit-filled life we come to know in Christ is much different than the existence that is bounded by physical birth, living on earth and death. It sounds silly and doesn't make any sense unless you give God a chance to show you that He exists. And the way you can come to know God first is through people who know Jesus personally by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we study the Bible the Holy Spirit illuminates what is important for us to know.

Once we come to believe and accept God's salvation in Jesus Christ, we begin that relationship where we come to live out what Jesus calls "the Way, the Truth and the Life." Jesus' Father in Heaven is revealed to us as God the Creator and we come to know that He is our Father, too. And the next most important part of our relationship with God in Jesus Christ is that we live out the Gospel -- God's love in action.

Looking back over what I have just written, it seems a bit scattered to me. I think there are about ten parts to all that I am trying to say. Over the next few days I will do my best to elaborate on what I believe the Lord is leading me to write to you, Beloved.

Meanwhile I will keep praying for you. And my main prayer is that you will come to know completely that Jesus is indeed the Way the Truth and the Life. I want you to know personally and absolutely who Jesus is and to be able to come to the Father through Him. The greatest desire that God has for you is that you will open your heart to receive His love and to live in the fullness of love forever in relationship with God the Creator, Our Father in Heaven; with Jesus Christ, His Son, our Savior and the Redeemer of all Creation; and the Holy Spirit who reveals Jesus to us, who accompanies us, who abides in us and who sanctifies us.

If you believe in Jesus, please know that God has good plans for you to come to know Him in even deeper ways.

If you do not believe, won't you give God a chance to show you not only that He exists, but that He loves you and wants to provide for you and bless you?

I pray that you will, Beloved. When you do, you will be so amazed and so happy with how your life will change. Meanwhile, whatever your doubts, whatever your worries, whatever your fears, God will give you everything you need. He will guide you to people and bring circumstances into your life so that you can come to know and trust Him.

All it takes is opening your heart a little bit and giving the Lord a chance. As ever, my prayer is that you will do that today.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and everyone you love.