And Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” John 14:6
My words…
Praise
Life has gotten complicated. I struggle to keep up. Gone are the days when I use paper and pencil to do anything. Screens. My life is lived in front of various sizes of screens, storing and providing me with information. I have no idea how it works. There is a comfort in knowing how something works – like pencil and paper. There is a comfort in knowing simple truths. Like Jesus is Lord. But even You, in the minds of humans, grow complicated. Your message, Your life become entangled with words like sanctification, justification, propitiation, pre-destination, denomination (and many other -ations), and my spirit starts to spin. I furrow my brow and set about disseminating terms and theories and ideologies and arguments, and soon I have complicated You. You did not come to earth to make things more complicated. You came to simplify everything. One very simple offer: Wanna go to heaven and live with God? Follow Me. I’ll take you there. Plain and simple.
Prayer for me
I believe I have made Your gospel more complex than You intended. I created a “gospel maze” and asked a lot of meaningless questions about “the exact point of salvation” and the significance of “70 times 7.” It’s not a maze. It’s a path. Keep me from spending too much time in the maze.
Forgive me
Forgive me when I feel that Your offer of a way to the Father is too straightforward. Surely, the promise of heaven warrants a complex, difficult set of rules and regulations to follow. But that’s not Your plan. It never was.
Prayer for others
I come across so many people who have no interest in meeting You, Father. They decline Jesus’ offer. I pray they will come to accept the simple invitation and be a light in the darkness.
Thank You
Thank You, Jesus, for fulfilling a complicated covenant then freely and lovingly presenting the world with a new, simple way: You.
More praise
When I wonder which path to follow, You are my Way. When I get bogged down with knowing what is right, You are my Truth. And when darkness clouds my spirit, You are my Light. I believe that if I stick with You, I will end up exactly where I belong: in the presence of the Father. And when I am overwhelmed with anxiety, self-doubt, weariness, or confusion, I cling to this simple hope. It has saved me.
