Someone once said, “It’s easy to go astray – most of the paths lead that way.” This quote reminds me of Proverbs 14:12 – “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” (NLT). All of us come into this live with a desire to reach something. Many try to satisfy this desire with status, their career, their family, their possessions, or even their lusts. What we are looking for is joy, contentment, and peace. Too many confuse this with the purist of happiness but what they will soon discover is that happiness is fleeting. All those paths that they are seeking end up empty and death is still waiting at the end. Why is this the case?
Well, the honest answer is that we cannot find the satisfaction to our heart’s desire on this earth. We are born broken due to sin and every attempt we make to find hope and satisfaction will always come up short. That joy, contentment, and peace that we are looking for can only come from God. Yet, we can’t find the right path to Him on our own. The world is full of religions that try to do just that, but they too are paths that “end in death.” This is why God made a path to Him for us through Jesus. Jesus put it this way, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” – John 14:6b (ESV). Now this statement by Jesus runs contrary to popular belief. In fact, it is downright exclusive. Jesus is saying that the only way to have access to God the Father is through Him, Jesus. What does that mean?
It means that if we want to find the true source of hope and satisfaction that God gives, then we can only obtain it through His Son, Jesus. If we are willing to surrender from following all the wrong paths we have chosen in life and turn away from a life of sin; and instead, turn in faith to Jesus, we will be given more than just access to God. We will be given a new life. The life that Jesus calls being “born again” (See John 3:3-16). Yes, we will still have troubles in this life, but our soul has been made alive. We will find joy in knowing that heaven will be our eternal home. We will find contentment in our life now has purpose and meaning in Christ. Finally, we will find a peace that comes from the presence of God Himself. It is a peace that the world cannot understand, but it is a peace that we desperately long for.
So, let me close with this question, are you on a path leading to death or have you trusted in the Way that brings you to the Father?
Life Between Sundays 