Just one way to God?

I think something that many people struggle with in Christianity is the idea that there is only one path to God. I believe the Bible could not be more clear on this issue, as it talks about it from cover to cover. All the way through the old testament we see God stating that he is the one and only true God, giving a command for his followers to have no other gods before him. When Jesus comes onto the scene, He has the same message and boldly declares that he is the one and only way:

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,'" -John 14:6 NIV.

Our culture has a hard time accepting a message that says there's only one way to God, because they think it's not inclusive enough. I would argue that is simply not true though, and would say that Christianity is the most inclusive view on God that exists. I think Tim Keller summarized this view best when he said:

"The gospel is an exclusive truth, but it's the most inclusive exclusive truth in the world."

Every worldview has an exclusive truth claim. Christianity is not like most other religions of the world that are works based and have steep requirements for getting into the afterlife or attaining enlightenment. No, the requirements of Christianity are simply faith in and devotion to the one true God: everyone is invited to the table, but it's up to us if we accept the offer. How's that for radical inclusivity? The offer is for everyone, but many do not want to submit control of their lives to God and they want to be the masters of their own destiny. God gives us this choice. Where we spend eternity is completely up to us.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life," -John 5:24 ESV.

We meet Jesus in relationship, not through religion

One thing that is extremely unique about Christianity's view about God is that we understand that he is a personal God. Although by definition Christianity technically falls into the category of religion, I find it easier to understand in practice by thinking of it as a relationship with God. From it's very beginning, we see in the Bible that God not only interacts with creation as a whole time and time again, but that he personally comes into the lives of his people, those who truly love him and look for him.

Most other religions of the world take a works-based approach to attaining salvation, or enlightenment, or whatever they may refer to it as. In most cases, you get to God by doing good deeds, or earning your way, or simply put, by putting in the hard work. Now don't get me wrong here, Christianity certainly has much to say about how we live our lives and how we treat people, but it is the order of things that is completely different. In Christianity we come to Jesus first because we see our inability to get to God based on our own efforts, and as a result he changes our heart and the rest follows. It is not a requirement to change yourself before God will accept you, He accepts you right away and then comes into your heart and calls you into deeper relationship with him, which always ends up changing how you live your life. 

In Revelation 3:20 (NIV), Jesus says to the church of Laodicea, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." I can't think of a more beautiful way to describe a relationship with Jesus, but to think of the act of sharing a meal with someone. It is a personal experience, available to every person. The question is, will we accept his invitation and let him in?

I think for anyone to get to the point where they ask Jesus to come into their heart and commune with them, we have to get to a place where we recognize our need for God. Those who seek power through religion, will not usually find Jesus appealing. Those who are self-reliant and cannot admit their inability to get out of this life alive, will probably not find Jesus appealing. Those who are unwilling to admit the brokenness of their own lives and their sinful nature, will have a hard time coming to the table with Jesus. God is available to every person through Jesus Christ, but only those who recognize their sinful nature and need for God will find him.

God is real. Jesus is truly the son of God. He is a personal God, he knows you by name and he loves you. You were created with a purpose, and for relationship with him. You don't have to do a bunch of stuff before God will accept you, you only need to call out to him and acknowledge your need for him, and ask him to come into your life. When we reach the bottom of ourselves, when we've got nothing left, only then can God truly change our hearts. God is available to all who seek him, and recognize their need for him. This is why he's the God for all people, the young and the old, the simple and the intellectuals, there is no one who is out of his reach. There is no one who's "too far gone."

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved," -Romans 10:9-10 NIV.

Jesus: Our hope, even in death

Death. Some would say it's the last act in our earthly existence. For those who follow Jesus Christ, how are we to view death? Well, I can tell you that death has always been extremely difficult for me to cope with, ever since I was little. In response to the difficulty of dealing with death, I'd like to look at how Jesus himself reacted to death, which gives me great hope and comfort.

"Jesus wept," -John 11:35. This is the shortest verse in the Bible, yet it is perhaps one of the most powerful as well. In this verse we see the humanity, love, and compassion of our Lord and Savior as he reacts to the death of his good friend Lazarus. Yet to simply leave it at that would be an injustice, because if we look at the verses around it we see so much more going on. 

You see, it wasn't simply that Jesus was sad that Lazarus died, although even if that was all it was, it would still be powerful in conveying the depth of emotion that our God experienced in the flesh. Jesus wept after seeing the grief and sorrow of those he loved, who were deep in mourning over the loss of their loved one.

I think it shows more than that though. Some translations indicate that Jesus was not just moved to tears by the loss, but that he was deeply troubled and angry at the sorrow caused by death. Here's an example of the verses before in the Amplified translation: 

"When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who had come with her also sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit [to the point of anger at the sorrow caused by death] and was troubled," -John 11:33 AMP.

Jesus was God in the flesh, and he knew death was not part of his original design. We were not originally meant to experience death, it only came into the picture when we chose to follow our own path instead of following the will of God our Creator and father. Death came into the picture after Adam and Eve willingly disobeyed God's commands and decided to take hold of their own destiny, so the result was death, as shown in Genesis:

"And the Lord God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever,'” -Genesis 3:22 NIV.

So when we look at the big picture and pull this all together, I think it is incredibly remarkable to see the compassion shown by Jesus when he walked on earth. Certainly, God could choose to respond to our grief by saying that we did this to ourselves, but instead he enters into our pain, suffering, and grief, and experiences it with us.

The story doesn't stop there though, Jesus goes on to be crucified by the religious leaders at the time, and to experience an incredibly brutal and painful death himself, in order to provide the solution to the problem of sin and death. God, in his infinite goodness and love, showed his kindness to a creation who rebelled against him, by personally entering into creation and experiencing the very worst thing possible, which was a direct result of their rebellion: death. Jesus paid the price on our behalf.

So where is our hope in all this? Just a few verses before he wept, Jesus shares that hope with Martha as he comforts her: 

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die,'" -John 11:25-26 NIV.

Jesus is our eternal hope, and death is not the end for those who believe in him.

Social media post reflections

What kind of message does your social media activity send to those who don't know you? This is something I've been pondering a lot lately, especially over the last month or so. I'm human like everyone else, so I have often felt the pull to post things online that I have a strong opinion about. I've come close to posting things in the heat of an emotional moment that I would never say to someone in person. I've liked posts that in hindsight were surely offensive to someone with a different view, and I just have to wonder, how does that make me look to someone who's never met me?

If someone who never met you before looked you up on Facebook and saw your posts, what conclusion would they come to about the kind of person you are, without even meeting you? Would they feel an openness to be able to communicate freely with you, or not? I have to be honest, when I started thinking this way and looking at what people have been posting lately, there's a lot of people that I would never have guessed are the type of people I actually know them to be outside of social media. I realized how other people's posts personally affected me, in that because of how I choose to view something differently than they do, I then fall into whatever group they are targeting with their post and am therefore a recipient of their attack, although it's not intentional, it is a real consequence.

Once I realized this, I started to view my own social media activity through that lens. What message does my social media activity send to those who view it? As someone who believes in Jesus Christ, do my words and actions align with what I claim to believe, or do I attempt to separate the real world and online world and pretend that there is no connection. I assure you, it is not possible to separate the two. Online or offline, how do we treat others, directly or indirectly? Do we treat them the same way that we want to be treated? Or do we hold a different standard for those who think differently than we do?

James 3:9-12 NIV states, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

When I look at how Jesus treated people in the gospels, I see that he saw people where they were at. He saw them as human beings, not just as a part of a group or as a consequence of the decisions they've made up to that point. When I look at how Jesus treated people, it causes me to self reflect and wonder how I am doing. How do I want to be treated by others, and do I extend that same question and compassion to others who think differently than me? Do my words edify and breathe life into those around me, or do I indirectly chastise them for their beliefs by berating the views they hold through my social media posts and online activity? If I claim to believe in Jesus Christ, would I even be given a chance to share the gospel or my own story of how God has redeemed me if someone first took a look at my social media accounts before meeting me? Put yourself in someone else's shoes and look at your posts and wonder, what conclusion would they come to if they didn't already know you?

Each of us has a story that is unique, and we think the way we do as a result of our life circumstances up to that point. We have an opportunity to learn and grow from one another if we can get past our differences and actually listen to one another. To love your neighbor as yourself is a world changing principle, but it takes self-reflection and discipline to execute.

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other," -Galatians 5:13-15 NIV.

Social media is a tool, it can be used for good, and it can be used for bad. Before we post anything online, I think it's important to analyze our heart's motives and question whether it reflects the type of people that we actually want to be. Lastly, I think before we post anything it is wise to ask that if someone else posted something similar but that clashed with our values, how would it makes us feel? To love one's neighbor as yourself is to think this way, and to respond differently because of it. This may seem like a small thing, but if everyone thought and acted this way, it could make a world of difference.

Peace in politically charged times

In many places in the Bible it talks about a peace that is available to us who believe in him. We are living in polarized and divided times in our country right now, so how do we attain that peace and avoid falling into the religion of political fanaticism? It's a very real temptation, and I feel it pulling at me everyday, sometimes it's very hard to resist. We receive messaging from all around us all day long from social media, whatever we're listening to, and whoever we're around, it's everywhere. So how do we get this peace that the Bible talks about? Well in Philippians 4, it gives us a pretty good picture. I would say it comes down to the choices we make about what we put into our minds. It comes down to prayer, how often are we actually praying and going to the Lord and opening our hearts to him? What are we filling our heads with, are we immersing ourselves in scripture and actively thinking about him and what he has done for us? It's a discipline, and it's certainly not easy to do. The peace of God is truly available to us, but the choice is ours as to whether we actually want to grab a hold of it. It comes as a result of our choices to pursue him above all other things this world offers.

Trusting Jesus in the storm

Good morning everyone. As I sit here this morning, drinking my morning tea and collecting my thoughts for the day, I am reminded by a bible verse of God's incredible power and goodness. One challenge I have faced over the years as a Christian is to maintain a positive outlook when times in life are difficult. What this reveals is a question of trust, specifically, who or what, is our trust in? As someone who professes belief in God and Jesus Christ, what are my thoughts towards him when life has felt more like a burden, full of pain and difficulties? Is my belief in him dependent on the circumstances of my earthly life, so that when a storm comes, I say to Him, "how could you do this to me Lord?!" I'll admit, I've never been one to "blame" God when the going gets tough, but I have been one to question why he would allow me to go through something. I find this so interesting because truly, when we just take a look at the life of Christ himself as shown in the gospels, the last thing we should see is a life of carefree living and countless blessings for those who choose to follow him. No, in fact we see just the opposite. In John 16:33, right after Jesus tells his disciples about the upcoming hardship they will all endure (pointing to his upcoming arrest and eventual crucifixion) he tells them, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I think it takes constant work to maintain the right focus in the Christian life. We live in a world of distractions, of voices that compete for our attention and devotion, and of a literal enemy who wants to destroy us and our faith in God. It has been a popular view for ages to associate the idea of a "good life" with the level of faith in God that we possess, but nothing could be further from the truth. The bible is full of examples of this, the book of Job being one of the most powerful examples that shows us that even the most devout and faithful servants of God have to endure hardships sometimes. I think one of the hardest things for us is that we have such a limited understanding of God and of life, of trying to understand he who is infinite, with our finite bodies and minds. This is where faith comes in. Our faith in God is not blind, no not at all, we should use our intellect to analyze facts and data when we initially come to him, wondering who he is and if he is real. The facts and data can speak for itself, and I believe it strongly points to the God of the bible. There are times where our trust is tested, and although we will probably never fully know the reasons that God allows pain and suffering in this world, when it intersects with our lives, the question for us really is, do we trust him?

I remember just a few years ago when I was going through a really difficult season in life, right after my mother-in-law had passed away, and I felt like I hit rock bottom. I will never forget a time that I just felt so completely broken, and I was praying and I asked God, "Why do I have to go through this Lord?" I'll never forget the answer that I heard him give me in my spirit, he said "Because you can." It was a prayer that I really didn't expect an answer to, but in my raw honesty with God, he met me there and gave me an answer that I didn't understand at the time. I can only say after several years later, I believe the Lord was telling me that I was stronger than I thought I was, and because of that storm I went through, I saw a tremendous amount of growth in my life spiritually. There was probably nothing I have experienced to date in my life that has produced so much growth and maturity than that incredibly difficult period of life. It was something that I needed to go through to get where I am today, and all of that growth had a direct impact in all areas of my life: my family, my job, my friendships, and my faith in Jesus Christ. He used something incredibly painful to reveal many weaknesses in me that needed to be refined. The way I responded to the event though, that was up to me.

So as we go through life, we should not wonder if we will go through hard times, rather we should know with certainty that in time, we most definitely will. When a storm comes, or as Paul referenced in 2 Corinthians 12:7, "a thorn in the flesh," we should instead ask God what is it that we should be learning through this experience. Is this easy to do? Not usually, but I think in time, as we mature spiritually and have our faith reinforced as we continue to see God work in our lives, it does get easier, but the fact is that life is hard, and God never said it was supposed to be easy. The bible paints a very different picture than what any prosperity gospel will ever promise, since sin entered the world back in Genesis, life became very hard. But God is still in control, and he loves us enough to continue shaping us into the creatures he has created us to be. We can know with full confidence that when we experience pain and suffering in this world, it is NOT proof that he doesn't love us, in fact it is the complete opposite. How can we know this? John 3:16 says it best, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus didn't just beam himself down here and coast through life unscathed, he experienced all that we do as a "man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3). He did it because he loves us. He did it because he loves you. That is the true message of the gospel.

CrossCounsel Podcast: "Our Soul's Soundtracks"

I recently had another opportunity to be a guest on CrossCounsel International Ministries podcast, this time with a couple other friends of mine who are engaged in the ministry there as well. This time, we had a round table discussion about music and many different aspects of it: how it affects us on a spiritual level, how we can interpret the messages contained in the music, how it affects our brain, and many other things. If you've got 45 minutes to check it out, you should definitely do it. And if you've never heard of CrossCounsel before, you should check out their web page and check some of my past posts that I've shared that talk about the ministry they do there. Here's the link for that episode, now go and check it out!

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #167 - Our Soul's Soundtracks

If you enjoy watching this podcast, feel free to check out a couple of the other ones I was previously able to share on as well:

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #125 - An Uncommon Message

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #149 - No Need for Weed

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #159 - Weeding Out More Lies

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #176 - Truth Independent of Reactions