Bible Reading: John 14:6-7
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6
You’ve thought really hard, and now you’ve made up your mind. Instead of lazing around next summer doing nothing, you want to hatch an adventure. You want to go where none of your friends have gone before. You want to go visit your cousin.
But there’s a problem. Your cousin lives on the other side of the planet, where his scientist parents study insects in the wild jungles of Borneo. You don’t know how to get there—or where to find him. So you ask around.
Not all the responses you hear are helpful.
“Go to China and turn south for a few thousand miles. Lotsa luck.” “Don’t accept any dinner invitations. I think there are still cannibals in Borneo.” “Haven’t you heard of Bornean flying cockroaches? They’re as big as grass huts. They eat people.”
But finally your search pays off when you meet a professor at a nearby college. “Borneo? You want to get to Borneo? I love Borneo. That’s where I was born and raised! And I’m headed back there for the summer. I also happen to know your cousin and the jungle where he lives. I can take you right to him.”
Suppose you were actually hunting for a far-off cousin. Which bit of advice would help you most? It’s no contest! You want to link up with someone who not only knows where you are going and how to get there, but who also knows your cousin and precisely how to find him. How could a trip to the jungle get any easier?
As Christians, we are already on an all-important quest. God has invited us to come to him. James 4:8 says, “Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.”
God invites us to enjoy that close relationship with him right now.
But how do we get to God?
If we had all the time, money, and cockroach repellent in the world, we could probably find a cousin without the help of someone born in Borneo. But there’s no way we can get to God without Jesus. To know our heavenly Father, we have to know Jesus, his Son. He came to earth as a person to show us how we can know God.
Jesus doesn’t just show the way to his Father in heaven; he is the way! He’s not a road map; he’s our road. As we trust Jesus, his heavenly Father welcomes us because he wants to be our heavenly Father too.
TALK: How does it feel knowing that Jesus, the Son, cares enough about you to show you the way to God, the Father?
PRAY: God, thanks that we don’t have to stumble through life to find you. Thank you that you sent Jesus to show us the way to you.
ACT: Draw a map or a picture that reminds you that God’s Son, Jesus, is the way to God, the Father.
