Lost and Found

By Danny Saavedra

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”—John 14:6 (NIV)

Have you ever been lost? Maybe as a child, you wandered off at a store and ended up separated from your parents. Maybe you’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up down a road you didn’t recognize. It’s possible the GPS you were using led you down the wrong path or you were given bad directions.

If you’ve ever been lost, you know how frustrating and scary it is. There’s an uncertainty and confusion that comes with it. Many times, when people get lost, they’ll say things like, “How did I end up here?” “Where did I go wrong?” “How do I get to where I’m supposed to be?”

For most people, when they get lost while by themselves it can be a very scary thing. Why? Because they feel isolated and alone. And if we’re being honest, there’s nothing scarier or worse than being alone. And when we find ourselves in a place like this, the only thing we can do is ask for help because we need someone to show us the way.

The same is true of our spiritual life. Just like people get lost physically, there are people all around us right now who feel lost spiritually, who wrestle with the very same questions but on a much more personal, internal level.

It’s a difficult place to find ourselves in, one that at some point we’ve all experienced to some degree at different points in our lives, even as Christians. It’s possible that you are in that place right now. If you are, please know you’re not alone. Today, we get a bird’s-eye view of a moment in Scripture where the disciples of Jesus found themselves lost spiritually. 

In John 14, during the Last Supper, Jesus shared with His disciples many troubling things that would take place—things that no doubt would’ve instilled fear, doubt, and confusion. But Jesus told them to not let their hearts be troubled, because they knew the way. And then Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way” (John 14:5 NIV)? And Jesus responded with this powerful statement upon which we can stand firm, secure, and be found always: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6 NIV).

When Jesus declared Himself the way, the truth, and the life, He wasn’t just telling His disciples they needed to believe in Him to be saved. In context, to the first century Jewish listener, these words meant so much more. How so? Well, Jesus was using the same words to describe Himself that every Jew used to describe the Torah, the Word of God. Jesus was saying that He is the living Torah, the fulfillment of God's promise, the literal embodiment of God’s truth.

Jesus Christ is the living embodiment of the Word of God and the truth of God! He is God in the flesh, and He came to seek and save the lost, to show us God, and to be our way to God. That’s why after telling His disciples, “You know the way” (John 14:4 NIV), He says, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well . . . Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14: 7-9).

God Himself came to make way for us to know Him and be known by Him, for us to find Him and be found in Him, and for us to be forgiven, accepted, and saved. He came to reveal the truth that sets us free, to guide us into all truth through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13), and to sanctify us by His truth (John 17:17). He is our only way to salvation, to heaven, to eternal life, to the place we’re all looking for—the place deep down we all want to find.

But guess what? “I am the way, the truth, and the life” doesn’t just apply to our salvation; it’s a reality we can rest in every single day, a reality that can guide us to living our best life, a reality that gives us security for tomorrow and satisfaction for today!