One Way

John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

God has the funniest ways of bringing things to my thoughts. This morning I open a daily devotional e-mail from the Henri Nouwen Society. I have quoted him before in this blog, but what always amazes me is that he was a Catholic Priest, and the things he wrote do not seem Catholic at all. But in the end that doesn’t matter because there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ.

For me I grew up attending a Church of Christ elementary school while on Sundays going to the Methodists church. In High School I went to a Catholic High School while going to an Assembly of God church. As an adult I have attended all manner of denominational services, but call a multi-denominational church home.

This is not to be confused with a Unitarian church that might embrace all forms of religion, but rather a church that understands the label on the outside is insignificant to Jesus being on the inside.

Henri Nouwen wrote, “The beginning of the spiritual life is often difficult not only because the powers which cause us to worry are so strong but also because the presence of God’s Spirit seems barely noticeable. 

If, however, we are faithful to our disciplines, a new hunger will make itself known. This new hunger is the first sign of God’s presence. When we remain attentive to this divine presence, we will be led always deeper into the kingdom. There, to our joyful surprise, we will discover that all things are being made new.”

This is what Christianity is about, the divine presence of God and going deeper into the kingdom. We get there with faithfulness to "our discipline." Henri could have said faithfulness to the Catholic faith, but didn't. I think this was the Holy Spirit's design.

And so thoughts of how people can get hung up on doctrine, denomination, worship style, dress, and so many other things superfluous to the true knowledge of God became foremost on my mind. And I am not here to in any way discourage any Christian denomination to declare my doctrine superior to yours. On the contrary I am here to support all who believe at their core Christ is the One Way.

That is probably why God allowed “Wimpy” to come chat with me at the gas pump this morning. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, just that the guy looked like Wimpy from the cartoon Popeye. He was a balding, middle aged, round bellied man with a tie that was two feet short of being the correct length. He task… to proselytize me for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. We had a good 15 min conversation about his beliefs. In the end I agree with very little of their doctrine. But we did agree on one thing.

Jesus is the One Way.