John 10:30
Jesus and the Father Are One
30 I and the Father are one.
Matthew 7:14
The Narrow Road
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Romans 3:22-23
We Fall Short of our LORD and Savior
22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 7:7-25
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Isaiah 53:4-6
Like Sheep We Have Gone Astray
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Hebrews 6:13-20
Hope In Jesus is the Anchor for the Soul
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[d] 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
When we read the Bible and especially the four gospels, we learn something about not only about God and His Son, but also about ourselves...Jesus shows us who His Father is, in a personal way...God is revealed through Jesus...Jesus and the Father are One...They have a unique and special relationship...And through His teachings many other things are learned...Jesus gives us Hope...
We learn much about Jesus in the four gospels, and much about His teachings on life, but we also learn much about ourselves...St. Paul talks about how we learn about ourselves through what Jesus teaches, when he writes I do not understand what I do...For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...We are, at times it seems, at war within ourselves...We are in a lost and forsaken condition...We are dividend in mind, body, and spirit...And as we study and learn more about Jesus, we learn much about our own sinful nature, and why we are and feel divided...
When we journey down His narrow road, we find out how we live, versus how He lives and how His teachings impact us...The followers of Jesus that try to go down His narrow path see that they fall short of Him and His teachings...And when we stay on His narrow road, Jesus shows us who we really are...The Spirit and our Soul often feels apart from the mind and body...His teachings, and His life on earth, and those trying to follow Him maybe the only religion that shows us about the disorder our lives have -and His teachings help explain about why we want to do one thing and do try (to follow Him), but it is not what we wind up doing, and we therefore hate what we do and have done...Jesus and His narrow road shows me how I cling to material things for security...How often I really one-hundred percent of the time put my trust in Him...And Then I find ways to rationalize and have excuses for satisfying my next desire, while my Bible sits idly by with His teachings shut up on a bookcase...His teachings throw us into this disorganization and into this disarray...He shows us who we really are...
It seems it would be much easier to just hop off the narrow path, as we see fit (and not how He sees fit) and life would be more comfortable and easier...If we can just go astray and off the narrow road and do our thing, and do things our own way...And then we think about all the temptations off the path of His road, we realize we need Him...His path shows us our need and desire for a Savior...He shows us we are lost (in comparison to Him), and we need repentance...When they took Him to the cross, I can see it was my transgressions is why He was pierced...It is my sins that hung Him from the cross...He was crushed for my iniquities...But He shows us the potential of humanity...He shows us what we can be...He shows us by taking own the iniquities for mankind, the LOVE He has for each of us...He is the only One that can get the Spirit and Soul back in sync with the mind and body...Hope in Him anchors my soul...