Today

Not long ago I drove to pick up our son Allan from college so he could be home for the holiday weekend. I headed east toward Toronto.

If I had headed west instead, I could have been completely sincere about it. I could have driven carefully and kept a full tank. But I would never have reached him. Sincerity does not get you there. The right road does.

That is really what Thomas was asking the night before the cross: “we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” Jesus did not hand him a map. He said, “I am the way.” The road to the Father is not a list of rules. It is a Person.

Sometimes people ask me, “Pastor, are you saying there is only one way to heaven?” Yes, I am, because Jesus said it first. No man comes to the Father “but by me.”

But I always tell them this: I am not upset that there is only one way. I am thankful that there is a way.

On our own we had no road to God at all. Our sin had closed it off. Then Christ came, died for our sins, and rose again. He opened “a new and living way” to the Father (Hebrews 10:20). Because He is the way, we do not have to wander. Because He is the truth, we do not have to guess. Because He is the life, the road does not end at a grave.

So do not be embarrassed by what Jesus said here. One way is not narrow-mindedness. It is mercy. Be grateful for it, and point others to the right road.