Only One Option

Several years ago, I was talking with a missionary who had recently returned to the United States after serving in a foreign country.  I asked them, “After moving back to the US, what was your biggest adjustment?”  And they said, “All the options.  It was overwhelming at first to go to a grocery store.  There were not just one or two kinds of cereal to pick from, but a whole aisle-full.”

Here in the United States, we are accustomed to having many options.  We’re so used to it, we don’t even realize it.  Getting dressed?  Many have a dresser and a closet from which they can pick.  Hungry?  Most are able to decide to cook for themselves or go out to a restaurant; and whichever choice they make, there are countless options available.  Want directions?  Googlemaps almost always gives us several options for roads to help us get from “Your Location” to wherever it is that you’re going.

But what about paying the price for your greed, when more than enough was never enough for you?  What about satisfying God’s anger over your lust, when you locked lustful eyes on someone who wasn’t your spouse?  What about covering the cost of your ME-FIRST words that flew out before you could stop them?  Either you stare at God’s holy wrath and pay for your own sin…or you trust that Jesus has done so in your place.

There are no other options.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).'”  Notice that he didn’t say, “I am one way to heaven, but there also are other ways to arrive at God’s house.”  Not, “I am one source of truth, but there also are others with different, but equally valid ideas.”  Not, “one way to life after death, but many others can also assure you of resurrection.”

Nobody else is fully God and fully man.  Nobody else was born without sin.  Nobody else lived a perfect life of love without a hint of greed, lust or pride.  Nobody else cared enough to take ownership of the world’s sin.  Nobody else has announced that payment for sin is finished.  And even if they had announced that, nobody else could back up the words with reality.

Jesus is THE way.  THE truth.  THE life.  There’s only one option for escaping hellfire!  But don’t complain that more options aren’t available.  And don’t exchange heavenly truth for a lie.  Instead, stand tall on THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE: the one-and-only effective option sent from heaven’s throne.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, our hearts are restless til they rest in you.  Thank you for giving me the way, the truth and the life.  Prevent my heart from being troubled and anxious.  Help me to set my heart on things above, not things below.  Give me faith that trusts you boldly.  There is only one option for salvation – and you loved me enough to live in my place, die in my place, prepare my place in heaven, and give me the Scriptures so that I’d know all about this glorious option!  Amen.