The Only Way?

John 14:6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I worry about my arrogance.  I worry that, in my writing, I am going to promote me above my message.  Frankly, I can be a know-it-all.  I have, in my pride and ignorance, previously claimed that I was delivered from addiction, only to return to it. I felt that I knew more than my counsellors and refused to listen to them. I paid the price for my arrogance, returning to a defect that was, in fact, not gone.

So now, I try not to tell others what to do.  I try only to write of my experience and of what Christ has done for me.  I am not the ultimate authority on faith, addiction and God.  I am fallible and I will make mistakes, even in my writing.  It is when I stick to what God has done for me, that I best convey his message, not mine.

Jesus though, lived a perfect life, sacrificing himself and claiming to be The Way to God.  The world sees this claim as arrogant but He was just describing reality.  He insisted that if one wants to know God, one needs to know him.  Though He was God’s son, He became man, dying a sacrificial death to restore the lost to a right relationship with the father.

We must not miss this: To find God, we must know Christ.  He is the path to life.  We may refuse to take this path, but then we will not find God or eternal life.  He is the way, truth and life.

The mistake I make, is in personally assuming the exclusiveness of Christ’s claim.  If He is the only way and I follow him, then my way is the only way.  I am right and you are wrong.  I must tell you how wrong you are.  Like I said, I can be a know-it-all.

I should never assume the conceit of knowing everything.  It is all too easy for me to claim I am preaching the exclusiveness of Christ, while arrogantly promoting myself.  I am never to boast in being right.  I am only to tell others what Christ has done for me.  Jesus saved me from myself and restored me to God.  If others want to know the way, I must point them to Christ, not to Scott.

Alcoholics Anonymous has a tradition of attraction rather than promotion which I think they borrowed from Christ.  They offer, leading by example, a plan to follow God to recovery.  They do not advertise or sell.  They just tell what God has done for them and allow that to speak for itself.  This, I think, was Jesus approach.  We never read of Jesus selling himself like a used car salesman.  What will it take to get you to buy me today?

I suspect it is when we do not have much of a story to tell of what Christ has done for us, that we fall back on the I’m right and your wrong, approach.  The world may be offended by the exclusiveness of Jesus’ claim but we are not responsible for that.  We are only responsible for humbly and lovingly telling the truth of what Christ has done for us.

So here is my message:  Jesus saves me from myself.  If you want the same, He is the way.

The Seeds of the Spirit is a daily blog based on a walk through the New Testament.  Written from the perspective of my own addiction, it explores the common defects of our flesh nature and the solution, our spirit life.  If you find it helpful, sign up for the blog as a daily email, tell your friends and like/share it on Facebook.