The Via Dolorosa

The health and wealth prosperity gospel is appealing. I get that. We all long for Eden. We long for ultimate happiness and fulfillment. We long for all to be right. We wait for the day when we don’t have to suffer. No one wants pain, but this gospel is not The Way. There are no shortcuts. You can’t tithe yourself into utopia here on earth. You can’t self motivate yourself into fulfillment.

Do we really want just a beautifully wrapped package that gives us good feelings for a moment and then when the the contents are exposed, we are left wanting?

This is what Is at the center of false doctrines of alleged Christianity and it’s also at the center of other religions.

The Via Dolorosa is the thing that makes Biblical Christianity different. The Via Dolorosa is believed to be the route In Jerusalem that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixton.

Jesus walked in suffering, not because he wanted to. Jesus even said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Yet, He gave himself in obedience, knowing that the Via Dolorosa was the only way for us to have reconciliation with God the Father.

Biblical Christianity offers a hope and a comfort of a God that is not distant or beyond comprehension as some other religions. God knows our pain, our suffering. He doesn’t like it. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet he did not sin.” Hebrews 4:15

The God of the Bible knows our pain. Jesus went to the cross on our behalf and because of this we do have a way out, but it’s not the prosperity gospel way or through any other religion. Our way out doesn’t mean all our pain is vanished on this earth but it does mean that our eternity is secure and we have a God on our side that is taking us through the storms of this life to prepare us for the next.

I want a God that empathizes and is giving me the grace and strength to endure the race, don’t you?

That God is the God of the Bible. Through Jesus we can take hold of that which took hold of us.

Recently you probably saw the news about the young 18 year old black guy that forgave and poured out his love and grace for the white cop that murdered his brother. This response could only be done through the power of Christ!

The Via Dolorosa is the only way. He has walked it and he is carrying you as you make your journey.

To God be the Glory great things he hath done! So loved He the world that he gave us his son! Who yielded his life, an atonement for sin

And opened the Life gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Let the earth hear his voice; let the people rejoice. Oh come to the Father through Jesus His Son and give him the glory; great things he hath done!