Day 54: Politically Incorrect

John 8:21-30

New International Version (NIV)

Dispute Over Who Jesus Is

 ²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” ²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says,‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
 ²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
 ²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.
   “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
 ²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up^[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰ Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

The other night I was talking to Jess about something that's been on my mind a lot lately. We see kids dealing with lots of issues, lots of temptations, but one that seems prominent in recent years is the relative truth phenomenon. If we stand up for truth - one truth, the truth - we tend to be labeled as closed-minded at best, bigots at worst.

And out kids are getting the worst of it. Society is teaching them that it's not appropriate to say that anything is wrong. And it's even worse for them to say that anything is a sin. If they do, they get stuck with labels like "brainwashed" or "backwards".

And yet, here we see Jesus making strong statements. Bold statements that were crystal clear. "If you do not believe that I am am he, you will indeed die in your sins." Certainly not politically correct, but Jesus never was much for that. What he was for was truth.

He still is. We should be as well, and we should be teaching our kids. There is one way. One truth. And the only way to salvation is still through Him.