“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3 ESV)
Life is a road. We can be confident that we are on the right road when our faith is in Jesus. With Him as our Savior we have no doubt of one day reaching that better country.
Yet even Christians can have doubts. A case in point is John the Baptist when he was a prisoner: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
We can’t say for sure why John had doubts, or even that he had doubts (it may have been John’s disciples whose faith needed shoring up). Perhaps they wondered why Jesus continued to allow the religious leaders to spew out their damning work-righteous doctrines. If He really was the Messiah, He should do something about that. Or perhaps they questioned why Jesus wasn’t doing anything to get His faithful messenger out of prison. Had they been traveling the wrong road all along? Was their life without purpose and direction?
Sometimes as Christians we are flying down life’s highway, secure in our faith, and certain of our salvation. However, at other times we find ourselves in a spiritual or emotional traffic jam, where it seems like our life is going nowhere fast. We wonder why God isn’t coming to our rescue. Or we hit a jarring bump in the road. It could be a financial setback, a serious illness, or the painful loss of a loved one. Whatever the bump, it causes us to cry out, “God, where are You? I feel like I’m stranded by the side of the road, lost and alone, and You’re nowhere in sight.”
The road of faith is not an easy one to travel. It involves keeping a close eye on our spiritual gauges, inspecting the condition of our hearts, testing to see that the engine of faith is hitting on all cylinders. It means refusing to take that enticing exit which Satan falsely promises will lead to happiness and fulfillment. But mostly it involves checking and rechecking the perfect road map—the Word of God. For only God’s Word can make us secure in our Christian faith.
Recall how Jesus directed John and his disciples to the Word. “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:4-5 NIV84)
From the book of Isaiah Jesus showed that He was doing exactly what was prophesied of the Messiah. The lesson was, “Don’t judge by your reason. Don’t evaluate things by your present circumstances. Go back to the Word for certainty, and you will see you are absolutely on the right road.”
God’s Word takes us down a road that leaves no doubt as to the direction we are taking. We might call it the Christmas Road. It’s a road that leads to the fields of Bethlehem, where an angel announces that a Savior has been born for all people. It guides us to a manger where we see that God has come into our world to share our sorrows, to carry our burdens, and to live for all a sinless life. Yet the Christmas Road doesn’t stop there. It continues on, directing us up a road of deep sorrow to a cross. It is there where God demonstrates His love in the most powerful way, by offering His only Son in sacrifice for the world’s sin. But not even death can put a stop to the journey. For, finally, the Christmas Road brings us to an empty tomb and a risen Savior! This guarantees that the road to life eternal is now open and clear for one and all so that whoever believes in Jesus the Savior shall be saved!
Jesus patiently reassures us in our moments of doubt. As we journey down that blessed Christmas Road, let us have no doubt that we are on the way to life everlasting! AMEN!
is pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Saginaw, Michigan, and president of the Church of the Lutheran Confession.