The Real Meaning of Life

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

What does this mean to you? It is quoted often, seen on key fobs, tee shirts, home decor, everywhere…it’s a popular verse, but truly, what does it mean?

To me, it has always meant that if you want to get into Heaven, you have to follow Jesus. You have to worship Jesus, be reverent to Him. I’ve even heard that “Jesus is the mediator” between us and God. But wait, I thought Jesus was God. How can He be the mediator between us and Himself?

First, let’s remember who God told Moses what His name was. “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:13-14

It is just me, or is it purely coincidental that Jesus said, “I am”…the truth, the way, and the life. And if Jesus is “the way” to Heaven, isn’t God Himself the way to Heaven? And if Jesus and God are one, and God doesn’t change, how can anyone say that Jesus changed everything and that the old Mosaic laws are now obsolete. As I’ve said before, those laws were not oppressive rules, but rather laws to live by to achieve happiness and peace.

Jesus said, “I am the truth”. This further solidifies my opinion that one of the main reasons God/Jesus came to earth was to show the true character of God, and not the character He was made out to be in the Old Testament. Finally, Jesus said, “I am the life”.

Originally, I believe it was God’s design that everyone would live forever. I believe when He created earth, it was meant to be “Heaven on earth”, but man sinned and everything changed. Animals became carnivores and hunted other animals. The pristine gardens now came with weeds, or as the Book of Genesis says, “thistles and thorns”. No longer would childbirth be a wonderful experience, it would now be painful, not just the childbirth itself, but the labor process as well. And instead of living forever, man would die. Not that man would die immediately, but that eventually man would go to sleep in the grave to away the return of Christ, and as such, missing out on a fruitful life on earth.

If we separate ourselves from God, we are separating ourselves from His light, and we are going into darkness. When we separate ourselves from God, we are separating ourselves from the source of life. But Jesus said “I am the life”, and if we follow Jesus, we will have life.

Jesus isn’t the mediator, Jesus is God, and not only should be follow what Jesus said, we should also follow what God said.

The Old Testament isn’t obsolete, it is showing us the way to Jesus. Amen.