Jesus Is Not the Best Way

I know I have spoken about Jesus for a while now. I know I have written article after article about how great He is and all He has done; He is worthy of our praise and our obedience. But I want to make one thing very clear. It's something made crystal clear to me just a few days ago:

Jesus is not the best way.

He is not the best way to heaven. He is not the best way to healing. He is not the best way to peace. He is not the best way to joy or holiness or even justice. Jesus is not the best way. Jesus is the ONLY way. And while that may, indeed, make Him the best way secondarily, in the primary sense, the ultimate sense, the most literal sense, Jesus is the ONLY way.

A little while ago, He had me thinking about the quality of my faith. Do I trust Him because there are other options out there, but I know He is the best? Or do I trust Him because I have no other option? (Is it Faith or a Lack of Options?) And when it comes to the reason I trust Him, I believe it should be because, despite other choices, despite other possible avenues, He is my King and He reigns supreme. In other words, I could trust _____ (fill in the blank), but I choose to trust Jesus. However, when it comes to His identity, His authority, His rank, He is my ONLY Salvation, my ONLY Hope, my ONLY Way to restoration and reconciliation with the Father, my ONLY Healer --yes, I said, ONLY Healer. 

I say this because we don't always feel cut off from the Father, do we? We don't always feel the weight of our sin and separation. We don't always feel the need for a Savior, One to deliver us from eternal punishment. Those are things we usually only consider when we are faced with the reality of death --ours or that of someone near. But healing? I think the need for healing is something we all experience. Whether it's healing from sickness and disease, or healing in our relationships, or healing of our finances, or healing in our communities. We all feel the brokenness of life in this world. We all experience litter and poverty and bad news and dead plants and sweat and spoiled milk and high prices. We all have said, from time to time, that we are sick of things the way they are; we long for repair. Jesus.

All of those "other options" are merely bread and water. We eat the bread of our paychecks or our labor in the garden or our handshakes, and life is good for a while. We drink the water of medications or good news or rest, and we are spared. But we will hunger and thirst again. These things are gifts, shadows, temporary remedies for the eternal, spiritual affliction, the curse that besieges us all. The options help us to exist in a world that is dying, prolonging things until the time God has determined. Jesus is our ONLY Salvation --utterly, truly. Jesus is our ONLY Hope --steadfast, eternal. Jesus is our only Way to restoration and Reconciliation --by His design, all-sufficient. And Jesus is our ONLY Healer. Joblessness, injustice, addiction, cancer, contentions, corruption, immorality, unfaithfulness, confusion, gossip, even mold in the shower and fleas on the dog! ONLY Jesus can restore these things to the place, the condition they belong. And while He has commissioned us as His agents --Yes, we have to clean the shower and treat the fleas --He is the ONLY One who can and will one day bring complete healing to our lives. He is the ONLY One upon whom our focus should always, resolutely be fixed.