John 14:6-7, New International Version

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’”

It seems as though so many people are critical of the Bible and Christianity; they base their final judgement of it based on the Christians they encounter. Really, they are looking in the wrong place. They should be looking for truth in Christ, in the Bible, not in the people they encounter. Why? Christ died for an imperfect people, people who were born into sin. There is not one perfect person for anyone to look to on this earth. And yet, judgement is cast based on what people see with their naked eye. 

Reading the Bible, truth can be found. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and atonement for our sins. He did not sin, which made Him the perfect sacrifice to cover our sins and restore us into a right relationship with God. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’” (John 14:6-7, NIV) Our salvation comes from Christ, not the people we encounter that share truth with us and maybe sometimes get it wrong. When we want to know if something is accurate, don’t we go to the main source? Instead of getting offended by an individual or misinformed from an individual, we should be going to the source…Jesus. What does His word say about our situation? 

Jesus says in Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV), “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” This scripture should encourage us to look at ourselves and do a self-examination. If there is a problem somewhere, the first place we should begin is with ourselves. We cannot change another person, but we can certainly work on ourselves. The Bible clearly instructs us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord. (Philippians 2:12)

This word I am sharing is not to judge or condemn, but to encourage us to go to the right source for life’s problems, for direction—Jesus,the Word. God is perfect.  He never changes, but we do. His love for us is the same every day. He sacrificed His one and only Son so that we could be saved. How could love be any greater than that?  Satan is working overtime to make sure individuals become offended by others, to make sure they are misinformed, to keep us separated from a loving God and to spend eternity separated from Him. 

When we leave this world, we will go to one of two places: heaven, or hell. Revelation tells us that there will be no more sickness, pain, death, or tears. God will dwell with us and we will continue to live in His goodness for eternity. But if we do not choose Jesus, we go to the alternative…Hell. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  It will be a place of eternal torment. There will be nothing good there. No sunlight, no laughter, no joy, no peace, no love, no affection…eternal darkness and torment.

I want to encourage us to seek truth, seek Jesus. He is the light of life and the only way to the Father and eternal life. The joy, peace, and love that we look for, we don’t have to wait for the other side of eternity; we can find it right here and now in Christ. He is the only One who can take a broken person, a broken life and transform it into something beautiful that the world has rejected. He accepts us as we are and makes us beautiful—if we allow Him to. Won’t you seek Christ and accept Him today? Life is already difficult, but it’s not as difficult when you have Christ at the helm as your guiding light.