No Other Name

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

(Acts 4:12)

Meditation

There is a hugely popular Hollywood type person who claims there are many ways to get to heaven. She falsely asserts that it doesn’t matter what gods you worship, so long as you are a good person, you’ll go to heaven, or some paradise when you pass from this life. It’s her belief everyone worships the same god even though he’s known by different names in different parts of the world. However, if that were true, does it make any sense that the various and competing faith systems would have such contrary beliefs? When that question is asked, she doesn’t even attempt to give a plausible answer. She gives a wave of her hand, then explains, ‘We’re all good people at heart. We just have different values and lifestyles.’ Uh, sorry Miss High & Mighty, NO!

Others believe in reincarnation. You live this life, trying to be the best person you can. You keep coming back into a new life until you’ve achieved that goal and then you’re admitted into paradise. No belief system other than Christianity offers the surety of salvation simply by our faith. All others require the actions, works, or deeds of the believer to enter heaven or paradise after this life is over. The average person is pinning their hopes for eternity on the idea they haven’t done anything bad enough to keep them out of heaven. They have the idea it’s a weights and balances kind of system. You put all the good things you’ve done on one side of the scale and all the bad things on the other. If the good things outweigh the bad, you get to go to heaven. They are going to be sadly mistaken after this life is over.

No other faith has the cross on Calvary. No other faith has the shed blood of a Savior who died a sacrificial death. No other faith has an empty tomb. No other faith has Jesus! Those of us who are saved, know we can do nothing to earn our place in heaven. It would be futile to worship any other god, because our God is the only real and living God. We cannot perform a deed good enough that will save us from an eternity in hell. We must call on the name of Jesus, repent of our sins and be immersed in baptism. Buddha cannot save us; Allah cannot save us, and we certainly cannot save ourselves! There is no other name, there is no other way! Only Jesus!

Prayer Time

Father, our hearts are filled with gratitude for your loving kindness and for your plan of redemption. We cannot call on Allah to save us. The Buddha is dead and in the grave. All the various gods of the Hindus are false and have no power over eternity. A doctor might be able to save us from a disease or the police might be able to save us from a criminal, but they have no power to save our immortal souls. There is only one name, the name of Jesus, that our souls can find salvation in. Thank you, Lord, for paying the price for a debt that we could never hope to pay on our own. Without your sacrifice on the cross, we would still be deep in our sins and destined for an eternity in hell. But Jesus came down, willingly shed his blood to the point of death, and rose from the dead; all to bring salvation to an undeserving bunch of barbarians. Thank you, Lord God, for loving us that much. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!