Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Sticks and Stones

Ever wonder why people can talk about God without getting nettled, but bring Jesus into the conversation and people become defensive and angry? I've been verbally abused in past conversations about Jesus Christ by people who knew absolutely nothing about Him above being a curse word. And yes, it can hurt. Speaking of God is generic in the sense many religions believe in “God”, just not the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. Bringing Jesus into the equation can lead them to make some very ignorant and injurious comments. The old saying that sticks and stones can never hurt is plainly untrue. Verbal stones can hurt deeply.

Jesus is specific in His teaching of the kingdom of heaven and is inflexible in that everyone must go through Him to have salvation and fellowship with the God of the Hebrew/Christian Scriptures. He is the only way and that tends to get folks riled up.

But what kind of man would utter such an incredible statement as Jesus did? The only way? He even claimed to be God. The Jews understood that and picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy (John 10:30-39). No wonder He made that statement. He had authority from the Father that sent Him (John 7:16, 12:49).

Speaking of Christ stirs up rebellion and hatred in hearts that they must believe only on Him as the only way to God or that they must believe at all. Nobody tells me what to do. Jesus does and with authority, even to keeping them from eternal separation from God. If they choose to deny Jesus they will be found to be without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).

We can stand strong in the power of the Holy Spirit that God's word never returns empty (Isaiah 55:11). All we need to do is speak the truth of Christ in love and don't sweat the outcome. It goes out of our hands and into the hands of the Holy Spirit. He will do everything He can to work in people's lives. Maybe metaphorically speaking, unbeliever's sticks and stones may break our bones. But we can be certain that Christ has the last word on the subject and that Word always heals.

Ken