God's love reigns.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6

Here in the United States many celebrate Christmas. The stores are adorned and the feeding frenzy of Christmas shoppers is at is height. We celebrate but often without any understanding or reverence for the reason for the season. After all, we are talking about CHRISTmas, so who is this Christ?

Today's verse happens after Jesus washes the disciples' feet as a sign of his servant heart. He then predicts his demise and Peter boldly proclaims his loyalty but Jesus breaks his bubble when he predicts that Peter will deny him three times. Then he tells his disciples to not let their hearts be troubled because he is going ahead to prepare a place for them in his father's house. Finally he tells them "You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Doubting Thomas takes his place in saying “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” That's when Jesus finally delivers today's verse: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Now many will take offense to this verse. Certainly people of other religions can't submit to this and they will not consider it truth. Someone who is agnostic or atheist doesn't comprehend this verse and will dismiss it as religious dogma. I can certainly understand the sentiment, Jesus' statement is divisive. It divides believers from unbelievers. In this statement lies a line, the line that you either cross into faith or stand in disbelieve of the REAL central message behind CHRISTmas which is so eloquently stated by the Apostle John in the famous verse John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Now I am obviously a believer but I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of an unbeliever. There was a time in my life that I didn't want to even talk about this. I didn't care to know truth, dogma or anything that challenged the mere physical nature of my existence. I operated under the laws of physics, living day to day and relying on my self to get me through each day. Looking back I remember that I used to call myself a "born again agnostic." Although I was an unbeliever, I could not get past the acknowledgement that something bigger than me operated in this world. I think that's the case for most people. Maybe they haven't submitted to a particular religion or believe but deep in their hearts, they know something is out there watching over them.

My point in today's message is not going to be to convince you one way or the other. I can't do that. Nobody can do that. Its about God speaking into YOUR heart and reveling truths that only you can decide on. What I hope to do here is just let you peek into my heart and listen to MY experience in hope that you open your heart and we can connect. After all, I believe this to be God's will, for us to love each other despite all our flaws, believes and shortcomings.

I believe that when we connect through our hearts, we can see God. After all, God is in us. When we let our walls down, when we become vulnerable and connect, we put aside our pride, our envy, anger and everything that entangles us and we finally can have moments of clarity that show us God's will for us. To love and help each other. To love and help each other when we most need help and we are praying to a higher power for help. That's when God operates THROUGH us to send us love and help. Psalm 138:8 says "The LORD will perfect that which concerns me" - I believe he does this through people that open their hearts to you.

So, whether you believe or not that Jesus is THE ONE that God sent to us as a sacrifice, to be our Savior, the reason for the season should still make some sense to you. That at least it should be a celebration of God's love and how he wants to operate in our lives if only we allow him to cultivate his will in our hearts and we would open our hearts to others. Even in a world full of strife, God's love reigns and his people will connect.