“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life'” (John 14:5-6, NIV).

Recently, I was standing in the Sunday morning contemporary church service singing the lyrics of a worship song. As we sang the words of the chorus a few too many times it caused me to wonder if these lyrics were even biblical.

Did Jesus come to hold my hand and help me through all my problems? Did he come to make me feel better about myself?

Sometimes our worship songs and even our preaching romanticizes the unconditional love of God so that Jesus is portrayed as our best friend who is always ready to support our emotional needs whenever we’re confronted with problems.

But, if we want to put God’s love in some sort of context, I think God’s love is more like the unconditional love of a good parent than the affection of a best friend.

If you are a parent, then you have probably learned that you don’t necessarily get to be your children’s best friend. As a parent your duty is to show your children the way to become responsible human beings who can make good choices in life and are then able to find their own way in the world. Unfortunately, you can’t accomplish this formidable task by being their pal.

Because raising children is more like boot camp than summer camp! You have to teach them right from wrong and to take responsibility for their own lives and well-being.

That means you have to discipline them; you have to let them make mistakes and watch them fail; you have to tell them things they don’t like hearing and make them do things they don’t like doing.

Yes, unconditional love can be pretty messy and oftentimes giving it or receiving it doesn’t feel so good!

God’s love has burst into this earthly realm in the person of His Son Jesus to save us from a spiritual rebellion that threatens the fate of all human beings.

But, His salvation isn’t about being the solution to our personal problems…. 

It’s about where our allegiance is!

Salvation is a heartfelt pledge of loyalty, a mindful act of the human will upon hearing and receiving the invitation of Jesus to become His loyal follower.

“I have decided to follow Jesus!” That’s the battle hymn of God’s kingdom!

Jesus said He is the Way and that we should follow His Way because His Way will lead us into Truth and Eternal Life.

Many years ago during a baptism at the Sunday night church service one of my friends, who had been visiting the church for several weeks, unexpectedly jumped up from his pew and cried out, “I know the way!” All of us proper church-folk were stunned as we watched him run up the middle aisle from the back of the church, crash through the doors at the front of the sanctuary, leap up the stairs to the baptistry, and practically dive into the baptismal tank where a very surprised pastor joyfully baptized him–with his church clothes on!

Mark tells us that when Jesus first called on James and John to be His disciples “they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:20, NIV). And, Matthew (Levi) just walked away from the tax collection booth when Jesus called on him: “As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him” (Mark, 2:14, NIV).

Jesus didn’t come to help you feel better about yourself. He didn’t come to pat you on the hand and tell you everything is all right.

Jesus came to overthrow humanity’s rebellion against God and liberate the human race from the grasp of cosmic evil.

And, He is inviting you to to join His revolutionary cause!

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24, NIV)