The 'No Way' Way

Romans 6:11

You also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

There exists today a method by which the modern church provides a way to salvation.

It is not the actual way.

It is not the way of blood and suffering.

It is not the way in which the highest sacrifice is put on full display for all to see.

It is no way at all.

This counterfeit method proceeds as follows: A watered-down message, full of props and visuals, mixed with personal anecdotes and life stories, is reduced to a palatable, one-hour presentation. In the last 5 minutes, as soft, emotional music plays, the "moment" comes. The crowd is asked to close their eyes, for what is about to transpire might cause embarrassment...

An offer is made. The crowd is told that if they simply raise their hand, they will be counted among God's people. If they repeat a prayer, their souls will be saved.

No dying. No mess. No embarrassment or public proclamation needed.

Simply follow the formula and make sure to come back next week.

This salvation, which was bought with such a high price as the very blood of the Son of God, who was stripped naked and beaten, despised and rejected, mocked and ridiculed, paraded in full view of the public eye, and then brutally tortured to death, requires, from you, a hand raise.

Of course, you wouldn't want anyone to see that you have chosen to associate with Him... This wonderful counselor and prince of peace, this mighty God and Lord of Lords. No, this method of salvation is very personal, and it is mystical too! It is so mysterious that no one around you can tell if it has worked or not. No one can question the sincerity or effectiveness of this process in your life, that is between you and God... We all have our eyes closed.

Jesus's way is different.

Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man had no place to lay His head. Tried and tested in all ways, He was without sin. His life was on full display. His actions testified to His identity. He did not speak an idle word but only spoke those words given to Him by The Father. He did not count His life as something to be clung to and instead, humbled Himself to the position of a slave, even being willing to die a criminal's death on a cross.

He certainly did call others to follow Him in this.

The place He was going was to the cross.

They could come along if they liked.

They could live the way He lived, and they could pick up a cross of their own. They could carry it up that hill and be nailed to it next to Him.

They could receive the same ridicule and rejection. The spit and the slander of the crowd could land on their own faces as well.

They could despise mother and father, wife and children, even their own lives, as He did.

Yes, they could live the way He lived and die the way He died.

If such a person were willing to give up their life, they would find it.

Most would not be willing.

That path which He walked, in which He has now become the path, and that gate He entered, in which He has now become the gate, is very narrow and very few find it. It is a path that leads to life, and the righteous stand at its gate and enter in, giving thanks to The Lord.

Those who, by the grace of God, have been given eyes to see this path see something terrible at its starting point. They see a cross, heavy and burdensome. They see their own sweat and blood, and many shed tears... They hear, from the adjacent path, which moves in an opposite direction, jeers and snarls from the crowd filled with slander and accusation. This crowd, if given the opportunity, would take their life, just as they took His life.

That adjacent path, which is wide and easily traveled by the many who travel it, which includes church every Sunday and volunteer hours at the local food bank once a quarter, the one filled with a semblance of godliness yet devoid of any real power, leads to utter destruction. The ones who walk it do not know where they are headed, and you cannot tell them. They are convinced, in part due to the complacency and ignorance of the modern church, that they have found the way to God. They have earned salvation because they raised their hand and said the prayer.

The conviction they feel as they walk along this path is easily quenched by the idea that everyone is a sinner, indwelled with an incurable disease of which they cannot be held accountable. Words from those on the narrow path, urging them to change direction, are dismissed as self-righteousness and legalism.

"Don't they know that their eyes should be closed, lest I feel embarrassment?"

There exists today a way, which is no way, that leads nowhere and accomplishes nothing. Its entry point is a raised hand and a mouthed prayer. It is easy, and it is wide, and it leads to the destruction of your very soul.