Only One Way?

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Most of the time we are careful to point out the fact that there are not many ways to God, but only one. I think this verse also makes it clear that a way exists. Many people in our day have the mistaken notion that there are many ways to God and that as long as someone is sincere in what he believes, he’s home free. Jesus, of course, contradicts that belief by what He says here. However He is also making it clear that there is a way. Other people today believe that there is no way. No way exists to either know or reach eternal life. Eternal life probably doesn’t even exist according to them. However, Jesus refutes both ideas with one statement, “I am the way….”
There are some people I know who believe that Jesus was a great person, a good teacher and moral example. If you think about it carefully though, what conclusion should we come to when someone claims that He is the only way to God. He goes so far as to elaborate on this at the end of the verse so that there can be no mistaking what He is saying. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Can there be any respect for a great teacher and moral leader who makes this claim if it isn’t true? If Jesus is not God as He claimed to be, then He is not worth following at all.

An Untroubled Heart?

Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1. This is an amazing statement when you think about the fact that just in the last chapter, verse 21 John describes Jesus this way, “When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit…” At the tomb of Lazarus the Bible says that “when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.”

Why can Jesus tell us that we should not let our hearts be troubled and yet within the last few chapters Jesus is described as being troubled in His heart? I think a partial answer can be found in the fact that Jesus is described in Isaiah 53:4 as having borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We are told to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us. First Peter 5:7. He has promised to be with us and to meet our needs. He has carried the burden of sin for us so that we would not have to.
I don’t mean to imply that if we could apply our Christian faith properly we would have no troubling of heart and no cares. I can’t conceive of that situation. Maybe my faith isn’t as great as it should be. But I think we should take comfort in the fact that “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” As a result, we may “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15, 16.