Psalms 30:1-3 …. I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2  O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3  O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

What is the difference between Christ and the other so called “religions”? Why am I a Christ follower? I’m glad you asked.

I was born abandoned to a deep and dark well, frightened and alone. Try as I might I could not get out of that dark, dank place.  Darwin came to visit. “Don’t worry about it – you will evolve out of that well. There is no god. Just think of tomorrow.” Muhammad stopped by my pit. “It is Allah’s will that you be in this hole. Praise him, and look up!” Then he wandered away.  The Buddha majestically came by, and stopped meditating long enough to tell me “Cease to desire, and you will cease to suffer. Become one with the well and triumph!”  Then he drifted away. A Hindu teacher came by and told me “Be faithful. If god wills you will reincarnate a spider or a bug, then in the next life you’ll crawl out and reincarnate to something else. Hang on – life is just a few episodes away!”   Confucius came by and told me if I’d not tripped I would not be in the well, then he left.  Then many other pretenders stopped by. There was Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Ellen White. Some told me this was my path to god-hood, others that the well was just a figment of my imagination. The Pharisees came and taught a new law to follow while in the well, that if I added ritual or a special day to worship or a certain food to eat that things would all change. Joel the self help Guru tried to teach me how to live my “Best Life Now” while in the pit – but every day was the same.

Colossians 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Then Jesus came.

He lowered Himself in the well, and pushed me out. He raised me up, suffering in my place. Once we were out of the well He promised to keep walking with me, to keep me, to love me. I am willingly His child, His servant, His saint because He is willingly and forever my Savior. I would not sully His Name by saying “There are many ways to God”. There are not. He is the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life. Oh Beloved, quit trying to get out of the well on your own. Oh Precious ones, quit reaching out to the pretenders, hoping they will save you. Come to Christ. Give your life to Him. Only then will you know life. He is life!