Jesus described Himself with three words. This daily devotional looks at what He meant when He said He is the way, the truth, and the life.
Nuggets
- Being brought into God’s presence can only happen if Jesus introduces us.
- The gospel is all about Who Jesus is and what He did for us.
- Jesus not only leads us to a richer life in this world, but He also provides us with eternal life.
- The goal is to get into the presence of the Father.
Devotions in the Living Life Connected to Christ series
Jesus described Himself in three ways. He began these descriptions with “I am.”
What Jesus was doing was giving us a snapshot of the gospel itself. Let’s take a look.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
The Way
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. …” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV)
Being brought into God’s presence can only happen if Jesus introduces us.
In order to be brought into God’s presence, we must conform to His ways. He says that we must accept Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer.
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Each of us searches for God — some without knowing it. Because we are made in His image, we long for the connection with Him to be restored.
Glossary
That can only be restored when we agree to submit to God’s Will. Again, that can only be done through belief in Jesus.
I love what Selby said. He wrote, “A way is that which makes movement in some specific direction possible. Movement towards God is impossible without the work of Jesus Christ the Mediator.”
Resource
When we look at the way as a path, we see Jesus as the path. He leads us to God.
That makes Jesus the straight and narrow path.
Glossary
Think about that from which Jesus is leading us away. He is leading us away from sin and death.
Jesus is leading us to purity and eternal life.
A long time ago, we did a whole series on Who Jesus is. We said He was mediator, priest, king – and a lot of other things.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
We could see some of those as the way Jesus leads us to God.
The Truth
The gospel is all about Who Jesus is and what He did for us.
Let’s work out what truth is.
Truth is, basically, the essence of Christianity. Christianity is the revelation of the gospel of Jesus.
So, Jesus is truth.
As we grow in grace and knowledge, we realize just how much more we need to know about God. We want to understand His ways more.
That is when God reveals more of Himself to us. He shows us that He is the truth, not just tells that with His words.
God brings Himself closer to us.
This is what sanctification is all about – growing in truth. We are growing in knowledge of the truth.
Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
Boardman reminded us that, because Christ was the truth, there was nothing symbolic about Him. In the Lord’s Supper, the elements represent Christ’s body and blood.
Resource
There was nothing representative about Jesus’ death on the cross. His body was truly broken. His blood was truly spilt for us.
The truth is tied to God’s moral character. It is His nature to be true. Since God and Jesus are One, so is Jesus.
The Life
Jesus not only leads us to a richer life in this world, but He also provides us with eternal life.
We must do more than know about God and practice His good ways. It is about our relationships with God as we live our lives.
This relationship has to begin with our salvation. Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
Glossary
We cannot save ourselves. Our character is not pure without Christ, so we cannot gain access to God to petition His forgiveness.
But we must never, ever forget that the ultimate purpose of Jesus’ mission here on earth was to provide us with eternal life. Jesus was and is most concerned with our spiritual condition.
Access to the Father
“… No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14: 6 ESV)
The goal is to get into the presence of the Father.
God makes Heaven home. But He also makes a home within our hearts. We only give Him access to our hearts when we accept Jesus as our Savior.
We really need to make this our priority – and for the right reasons. If we don’t get our relationship right with God, it will have eternal consequences.
Jesus was found to be the only worthy sacrifice. God could not have accepted any sacrifice less than Jesus.
Jesus was the only way to access our Father.
Making the Connections
Have you ever wondered why the way was listed first? I hadn’t really.
But it makes sense. We have to be searching for God because we want to find Him. Not because we want the benefits of being His children.
We can’t want eternal life more than we want God. We can’t want to know the truth more than we want to know His character.
We have to search for Jesus as our Savior first and foremost.
When we become children of God, then we get His truth. Then we get eternal life.
How Do We Apply This?
- Show everyone the way to Jesus because He is the truth and life.
- Imitate Jesus.
- Navigate the Sanctification Road, so that we become pure like Jesus.
Father God. We thank You that there is but one way to restoring our relationships with You. That is believing in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer. Thank You that He is truth and life. We want to learn more of Him and more of You. Amen.
What do you think?
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