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

What made me think I didn’t need Jesus for so many years of my life? Even though I lived like the prodigal son before he returned to his father, I can see now I was trying to fill a hole in my heart only Jesus could. I tried to find happiness in the bottom of a bottle, or from a drug I could smoke or snort. There were many other missteps I made back then, but I hate to even think about them, let alone record them here. Suffice it to say, I was a product of the 1960’s free love mentality. I bought into the lie there were no consequences for my lifestyle choices. I know I hurt more than a couple of women I had relationships with, but I wasn’t really concerned about that. I truly wish I could get back all those years and devote them fully to the Lord.

I had a few encounters with “religion” in those years. I started meeting with some well-dressed missionaries when I was in my twenties. On the day I was supposed to be baptized into that church, I was told I had to confess all my sins to the elders. I don’t know if that was how everyone had to do it, but I never believed I was needed to confess my sins to any man. I wasn’t willing to lay myself bare to a bunch of old guys, so I left and didn’t go back. In my late thirties, I started studying with a Jehovah’s Witness. I thought they probably had the “truth,” but I just kept having these feelings of doubt. I prayed to God that if they were the way I should go, could he please remove the doubts from my heart. He didn’t take away the doubts, so I didn’t become a Jehovah’s Witness.

As I look back, I know it was God protecting me from those choices. I also know that through all that sinful living and brushes with other religions, God was preparing me for what I know to be the truth today. God used the death of my newborn grandson to make me take a long look at eternity. At the time, I thought, if my grandson is in heaven, I wanted to go there so I could meet him. The initial motivation might have been wrong, but I eventually got on the right path. Today, I know Jesus is the only way to heaven. There is no drug induced high, no sexual encounter, or another religion that can fill the void in my heart. Only Jesus can do that. He requires me to repent of my sins, confess Christ as my savior, and be cleansed in baptism. Then and only then will he save me.

Prayer Time

Lord of heaven and earth you offer us so much. You give us a peace that goes beyond understanding, a love that knows no bounds, and a plan for life with more purpose than just acquiring more stuff. Thank you, Father, for those gifts and for the greatest of all gifts, Jesus Christ, who came into the world as a sacrificial lamb. It was his blood that was spilled to cleanse us of our iniquities. Thank you, Jesus, for bearing our sins upon your shoulders as you hung on that cross. That most unselfish act was made for all mankind; every race, creed, color, or nation. However, we are not automatically cleansed just because of your sacrifice. We have to call on the only name we have been given that can save us. We have to turn from our wickedness and proclaim to the world that he is the Lord of our lives. We must be buried in the waters of baptism, be cleansed and rise, resurrected as a new creation. Thank you, Father, for your plan of redemption that gives us a way to come to you in righteousness. In the only name that saves us, we pray. Amen!