Seekers

 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.                                             Hebrews 11:6

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.          I Timothy 2:3-4

One of the tenets of the Christian faith is that Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Recognizing that Jesus is the way to come to an understanding of the love of God, and that we cannot save ourselves, well, that sounds to me like good theology. Jesus did things that pave the way for a relationship with his Father.

Yet, those who are outside of the Christian tradition will surely struggle with such a statement. How do we reconcile a relationship with God for those who do not know Jesus in the way that Christians seem to understand? Is there some formula for knowing God that we do not understand?

I do not have answers for these deep theological questions. I do know that God would have all people be reconciled to him, no matter what their tradition. Leaning on the work of Jesus as the atonement for our fallen nature and sin is pretty easy for me to understand. I cannot reach God by my own works and righteousness. I don’t have any.

I have come to understand, in my own way of thinking, that Jesus is the way to God, but there are a lot of ways to Jesus. What do I mean by that? Each of us has a history, a story, a journey, where we are seeking God. Recognition of our own inadequacy in that attempt allows us to see the need for Jesus. I don’t think there is a specific formula for finding Jesus. He is the one who loved people enough to come to earth and become a sacrifice. Jesus is the one who gave the example of what love looks like. As Jesus essentially said, if you want to see the Father, just look at me.    

So, how do people come to know Jesus? I am convinced that people can come to know Jesus in ways that are far beyond our concrete, narrow thinking. People will understand Jesus in ways that I do not understand. And that is comforting to me. People of different faith orientations can find Jesus in ways that I cannot predict or prescribe.

But I trust that Jesus can be found by those who seek…  

Prayer: Lord, your ways are higher than our ways- and I am glad of that! Amen