He expects us back

In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. I had never really pondered that verse before, but when I spent some time with it recently, I realized some things.

It was the Last Supper, Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death and departure, and they needed some assurances. In John 14:1 he said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

And then he says, “I go to prepare a place for you.” 

I thought wait a minute… He EXPECTS our return.

Why else would he be preparing a place for us?

I pondered that. He’s preparing things for me. Even when I’m being a knucklehead. He doesn’t say - “Ope, she just blew it again. Let’s shut this operation down.” 

Just chilling

I saw someone watching an airline flight tracker report that on a particular day there were over 153,000 flights. He said, “Millions of people got on a plane that day. They walked down that little funnel thing, found their seat, buckled up, put their headphones in, watched a movie. Some even fell asleep. Meanwhile, they’re on a plane that’s 30,000 feet in the air in a metal tube, going 500 miles per hour, and they’re just chilling.”

In many ways, we are like those passengers, just traveling through life, not thinking much about who’s flying the plane, or what’s going on outside of the cabin.

But our Father put us in here, in an aircraft, figuratively speaking, moving us toward eternal life and exaltation, and it’s powered by the Savior and His atonement. But from day to day, we’re just hanging out, taking a nap, watching a show, getting our work done, having snacks.

When Jesus said “I am the WAY”, I think we normally view that like he’s a door through which we must pass to get to safety. And that is accurate. But this airplane analogy gave me another angle - where He is the WAY - that our airplane is even in the air. In a very literal sense, He is the only one who has that power to save us from the fall. His enabling power keeps us in the air, and His atoning power provides a rescue.

Embodied truth

Jesus also said, “I am the TRUTH”.

He could have said, “I HAVE the truth, I can TEACH you the truth”, but saying I AM the truth points more to him being the SOURCE of all truth. He didn’t bring it, he embodied it. He showed us by His example what it looks like to BE the sum total of all truths, obediently lived. 

Realistically, it's beyond our current capacity to do that perfectly right now, and that can be discouraging. But it’s by design. Life’s experiences increase our capacity, and that’s how we grow. It’s why we’re here.

Celebrating setbacks

I was talking to a friend who told me, "All growing up I worked with horses, and when you’re training a horse, I was taught quite literally to celebrate when the horse makes a mistake, because it’s actually an opportunity to correct it and reset, and it makes the training session a lot more successful. If I went out and worked a horse and no mistakes were made, … That horse didn’t progress. … As a trainer, you almost set the horse up to fail. You put it in situations that you know will make it react poorly, because you want it to mess up, so you can correct it."

I’m not suggesting that God wants us to sin or actively sets us up for it. But He knew that our failures would be inevitable, and each one would offer us an opportunity to learn and grow.

Proverbs 3:11–12 says, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."  

Mortality was never designed to be something we could navigate flawlessly. God knew we would fall short. We’re so appalled and ashamed by the things we get wrong, but nothing we do surprises Him, and nothing we could ever do would stop him from loving us. 

John 3:16, personalized says, “For God so loved [YOU], that he gave his only begotten Son, that [if you] believeth in him, [you] should not perish, but have everlasting life."

What's at stake

So we’re going to make mistakes, and that’s part of the plan. But to fully appreciate the Savior’s power in our lives, we need to wake up to what’s at stake. Because the truth is, without Him, we're headed for ruin. And I think most of the time, we’re oblivious to that reality. We’re all just snoozing on the plane.

But imagine we could just freeze frame a moment on the plane mid-flight, and step outside of that giant metal tube to observe its sheer precariousness. How many tons of metal is suspended mid-air, over a gut-dropping expanse of emptiness, with devastating consequences if the power fueling the engines were to be shut off?

Two kinds of beliefs

I think there are two kinds of beliefs in Jesus:

1. One is where we’re sitting on the plane and reading about him, talking with our seat mate about him, and being charitable to the other passengers. 
2. The other kind of belief comes from realizing - you’re 30,000 feet in the air without a parachute. The ONLY reason you’re okay is because of Him, and His promises. 

Both levels of belief are important. The first goes along with 2 Nephi 25:26, where he says, “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ,” so that our children will know where to look for a remission of their sins.

And that’s important, so that when we truly understand what’s at stake, we’re equipped to first hope, and then choose to believe that he’s got us. This is what Alma the younger went through, when he said:

“I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more." Mosiah 27:29

Here was a man going through life, being a menace on the plane, tormenting other passengers and badmouthing the pilot, until, figuratively speaking, he was shown the door. He got that outside glimpse, and it was terrifying. So he repented, and that’s when he finally APPRECIATED the benefit of being on a plane powered by the Savior.

I think too often we ‘believe’ and ‘follow him' while we’re numbed out on the plane, and then wonder why we FEEL no power. I think we can only truly realize or experience His power, after we willingly, honestly, and courageously examine our dependence on him and our need for repentance.

Ether 12:27 says, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” 

Waking up

We just need to wake up, and truly appreciate what He did. Like the children of Israel who were bitten by snakes, all they had to do was look at the brass serpent on the staff - a symbol for Christ. And they were healed. It’s that simple. But the only way it becomes meaningful is if we realize what our default future is without Him.

When people emphasize that all we need to do is believe and we’re saved, I think what they mean is exactly what we’re talking about here. They’re alive and fired up because they first awakened to the horror of what was in front of them without Him, and then by learning about Him, or remembering Him, they felt that profound, promised relief of His rescue. 

Believing from a pressurized seat in first class has a much different feeling to it, than believing from a bitterly cold, windy, gaping hatch. 

The perfectionism trap

I struggled with perfectionism for many years. By the time I had three children, I realized how debilitating the expectations I had on myself were. On one occasion when I was really depressed, I prayed a “giving up” prayer - having realized it was actually impossible to do everything I thought I was supposed to do. Up to that point I believed that if I just tried hard enough, I could live in such a way that I’d never have to repent, because I didn’t like how uncomfortable the repentance steps could be.

But it was too hard, too far beyond my capacity - so I gave up trying to be perfect. My prayer was, "I'm sorry this is all that I am…" not to repent and grow, but just to kind of sign off, like, "Yeah, wish I could've made it. So sorry I didn’t." 

The one commitment I could promise to keep was praying each day for the next two weeks. That's all I could see myself doing - that’s all I had left in me. I couldn't even commit to getting out of bed each day - so I knew that if that were to happen at all, it would be His strength doing it. 

And when I did manage to roll out of bed, I was very conscious that it had been His power doing it, I only accomplished it on His borrowed strength. 

I kind of expected my prayerful declaration that day to be a disappointment to Him, so you can imagine my shock when instead I felt a sudden outpouring of love, and even mirth, like a smile from heaven shining down on me that said, "Finally! You recognize your dependence on me - NOW I can work with you!" 

It changed everything. You mean I can be a total failure, and you feel this way about me?? I had been trying to earn His love, but I only FELT it when I finally admitted to myself and to Him that life and its expectations were too hard for me to do by myself.

Once I felt His unconditional love, I stopped being hard on myself. I finally understood at my CORE that he only needed me to be just how I was, but WITH a conscious awareness of my dependence on him. That was it. 

I only FELT His love after facing and turning to him with a fully honest, broken heart.

THAT was the WAY. HE became my LIFE, my breath. And I knew, that what I had just learned through my errors, was the TRUTH. 

His promise

Let’s go back to the setting of John 14, and to the promise He gave. The disciples felt troubled, confused, and afraid of being left alone. They had felt His unconditional love. They had been witnesses to His power. He had been on the plane with them for 3 years, but they hadn’t yet experienced what you and I have been experiencing our whole lives… life on the plane without him. 

But he is still with us. 

Matthew 18:20 says, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

So it matters that we gather in His name. The plane is in good hands. His power sustains us. And here is His promise, in John 14:16-18:

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth … I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is our Redeemer, our rescue, and the reason we can face our mistakes, our weaknesses, and even death itself with courage and hope.