November 21, 2013

"You Believe in God; Believe Also in Me"

John 14:4-7

“I am the way and the truth and the life.”
—John 14:6

— 

Knowing that he was about to be killed, Jesus said to his disciples: “You believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). In other words, “Don’t stop believing in me, even though you will see things happen that will make you wonder if I really am the Messiah.” Then Jesus said these remarkable words: “I am the way and the truth and the life”:

I am the way, even though you will see me on a cross. Don’t stop believing in me.

I am the truth, even though my enemies will try to make all I’ve said seem like a lie. Don’t stop believing what I’ve told you.

I am the life, even though you will see me die. Trust me!

The disciples were challenged to believe those words. We are too.

Jesus is the way, even though his way demands that we surrender our ways, even though it may lead us to die for his sake.

Jesus is the truth, even though at times we wonder if what he promised is ever going to come, even while others say his words are out of date and his ethics are no longer relevant.

Jesus is the life, even when around us and in us death can still seem overpowering.

The apostles and the early church lived and died with Jesus’ claim on their hearts. We can and should too.

Dear Jesus, help me not only to accept your claim to be “the way and the truth and the life” but also to live and die with it engraved on my heart. Amen.

About the author — Harvey Stob

Rev. Harvey Stob and his wife, Audrey, served as missionaries in Argentina for eleven years. They then served churches in Cincinnati, Ohio; Ridgewood, New Jersey; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Harvey retired from full-time pastoral work in 2009. He and Audrey have three children and seven grandchildren.

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