The Only Way is Jesus

By Jenniffer Mann

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I’m probably one of many people who shy away from visiting hospitals unless absolutely necessary. It’s not that I find anything wrong with the environment per se, but the need to visit a hospital, suggests that more often than not, something unpleasant may have occurred.

My family and I were all enjoying a quiet evening very recently when my husband attempted to get off the sofa and let out a blood curdling scream! He then collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain whilst motioning that his back had given way. As he has previously been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and spent many painful weeks incapacitated, we all immediately feared the worst. Unable to do anything but crawl on all fours, he took some medication and we all spent a sleepless night on the floor. 

The following morning, I braved myself for the visit to A&E but due to Coronavirus and on-going social distancing, was not allowed to stay with my husband. As I sat outside watching people with various ailments file inside, some visible and some not, it reminded me how church is a hospital for the sick.

Every single attendee needs to be cured from the disease of sin.

Some of our sins are more evident than others but regardless, the cure is the same for all of us. It doesn’t matter if you have never been to church, have been once, attend sporadically or weekly, there is only one way to God the Father and that is through Jesus Christ His son.  In John 14:6  we read Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’

Without being in a personal relationship with Jesus, there is only one outcome – we’re told that the “wages of sin is death.”

We read further in 1 John 1:8-10 that:

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

Many people are in denial about their need for God, instead choosing to focus on themselves and become as one writer puts it “self-absorbed, self-serving, and self-centred”.  My husband recognised immediately through the pain, the need to seek medical attention and when he did, the help he needed was forthcoming and was put on the road to recovery.  Unless we recognise our need for Jesus, we will succumb to the inevitable outcome that sin leads to.

In John 17:24-26 we read:

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.  Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

In the week ahead, try to focus on the text above. Jesus wants you to be with Him. For you to recognise your need for forgiveness, so He can set you on the road to recovery. He does not want the estrangement sin causes but wants you to know Him personally so He can give you abundant life.

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Let’s Pray

Dear Jesus, please forgive me for all the things in my life that have caused me to sin. I want to leave that life behind and follow you. Thank you for dying for me on the cross of Calvary, so that I can live a life with you in eternity. As I go through this week, please live in my thoughts, my words and my actions, so I may be pleasing in your sight.  I ask all in your precious name. Amen. 

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This week’s song of encouragement: 

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