Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - THE ONE WAY

THE ONE WAY

As we start a new year, perhaps it would be good to review the overall uniqueness and simplicity of the Christian faith. After all, there is really no comparison between religion as we know it and the relationship we have with Christ.

At first, that relationship was intact with God. And God blessed man whom…

…[He] created in His own image… 

(Genesis 1:27)

and He… 

….planted a garden eastward in Eden, 

and there He put the man He had formed.

(Genesis 2:8)

And He Himself…

….walk[ed] In the garden in the cool of the day…. 

(Genesis 3:8)

But man, being in God’s image, had free will and he soon came to disbelieve God and thereby broke that trust when he was questioned:

“Has God indeed said…?” 

(Genesis 3:1)

Many times over the centuries, God has tried to reconcile with man. The book of Judges is replete with examples of God and man temporally reconciling only to fall apart again whenever man started to prosper and think he could do things his own way. The situation was spelled out in Deuteronomy when God said:

…I have set before you today life 

and good, death and evil.

(Deuteronomy 30:15)

He laid out the blessings that would come with obedience to His word and the curses that would develop with disobedience.

In spite of this, man has continued to disobey the Lord with the world showing the consequences of those actions. But God, in His grace, love and mercy, has refused to give up on us, and so has given us one last chance to reconcile with Him.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 

that whosoever believes in Him should not perish 

but have everlasting life. 

(John 3:16)

He has given us knowledge of Him in the only way we could fully understand, in that He came to us on our turf and in our place. How else could we really understand the Almighty and the Eternal unless He came to us and communicated with us face to face? And yet even with this gesture…

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 

(John 1:11)

…they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. 

(John 10:6)

This was especially true when He said:

…“I am the way, the truth, and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Me.” 

(John 14:6)

But many still do not understand just who Christ is and therefore continue to decline God’s mercy and grace. As a result, they miss out on the whole purpose of life, which is still basically so simple.

Believe in Christ’s sacrifice and payment for you.

Receive God’s mercy and grace promised to you.

Achieve the ultimate purpose in life - 

spending eternity with God.

It’s something we all should be continually thinking about.