Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 (NLT)
How many ways can you get to God? Jesus said there is only one way and it’s through Him. Unfortunately, works-based religion bypasses Jesus and teaches people that they must keep paying the price by relying on legalistic rules or rituals to get to God.
Yet I can’t find Jesus showing up in the synagogues to announce that He had a newly expanded list of rules for the Jews to follow. I can’t find Him teaching crowds of people about all the necessary rituals to follow or behaviours to modify before God loves them.
Instead, I find Jesus embracing those rejected or written off by religion. I see the broken, the hurt, the devastated and the outcast flocking to Him in droves. Why? Jesus taught a radical concept—the opposite of what works-based religion dictated was necessary to reach God.
Rather than adding to the heavy heap of legalistic rituals and self-effort that was burning people out, Jesus offered incredible mercy, grace and free access to God through Him. He also showed people something religion didn’t—God’s love.
You see, it was love that sent Jesus to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him. When Jesus declared He is the only way to God, it’s because His sacrifice alone fulfilled the law and paid our debt in full.
That means rituals, legalistic rules and guilt cannot earn us right-standing with God. No amount of personal effort can match or achieve what Jesus did through the cross.
So, how many ways can you get to God? Only one—and thanks to Jesus, that is more enough! (See Romans 3:27-28.)