The Way

~One of my favorite scenes from the movie Patton had "Old blood and guts" directing traffic on a clogged French roadway~ 

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  "In My Fathers house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  "And where I go you know, and the way you know."  Thomas said to Him, "Lord,we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"  Jesus said to Him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.  "if you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."  Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."  Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?  The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
John 14:1-11 NKJV

There is a common misconception among young christians that the very good deeds and works which we do go a long way to "Punching our ticket" for heaven.  Now, our good deeds and works are indeed very much needed and for the most part appreciated by those around us, but to base our beliefs on the fact that it is by our good deeds alone that we will enter heaven, then we are grossly mistaken.  For we are reminded in scripture of the error of this belief.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2: 8-9 NKJV

In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul reminds us that our very salvation is due to the loving grace of our heavenly Father, and that not of ourselves.  Why?  Lest anyone should boast!  For if it were indeed up to our own efforts that we were to be saved, what arrogance would accompany this proclamation?  How many would stand and shout from the mountaintops, "I have secured my own salvation!"  Does anyone but me see the correlation between this potential proclamation of ours and that very proclamation of Lucifer in Isaiah 14?  For Lucifer himself proclaimed, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High {Isaiah 14:14}."  The exact same arrogance which was expounded by Lucifer in his attempt to be like God Himself, is that very same arrogance one might proclaim should they, by their own efforts, secure their salvation.  Indeed, it is no wonder that our heavenly Father has stripped our fingerprints from every trace of our eternity with Him.  For it is not we who do the heavy lifting when it comes to our salvation, but God.

"For God so loved he world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should no perish but have everlasting life.  "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the holy begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
John 3: 16-21 NKJV

By stripping our efforts from our salvation, God has removed all arrogance, evil intents and human interference which surely would have surfaced had we been responsible for our own fates.  For what price would one place on their own salvation?  What of those who believed in Christ Jesus who couldn't offer up a suitable payment for their salvation?  Does it now make perfect sense now that God taken away every last trace of our own efforts from our salvation?  Left to our own devices, we may just turn this  gift of our heavenly Father into a craigslist free for all.  No, for that very price needed for our salvation has already been payed by Christ Jesus who became sin on our behalf at the cross {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  It is indeed Christ Jesus who is the very "way, truth, and life" which every believer must accept in order to be saved.  For without the gift which Christ Jesus has given each of us, there could be no eternity with Him.  Far from being simply a loving sacrafice on our behalf, Jesus is the one and only path which one must seek in order to assure themselves of a life in Him {Romans 6: 6-11, Galations 2:20}.

~Scott~