“Christianity” may be a "western religion" but Christ is not. Neither is His gospel. If anything, Jesus is quintessentially Asian—central Asian, marinated in the culture and context of the Levant. Today, the fastest growing Christian communities are in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, not the west.
Christ is not simply a teacher of the Way. He is the Way.
Christ is not merely pointing us to the truth. He is the Truth.
Christ does not just coach us to have a good life. He is the Life.
Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (see John 14:6). No one comes to the Father but by Him—no one arrives at union with God but by Christ alone whose incarnation and cross not only made this possible but made it certain. It is certain for all who are illumined, convicted, and regenerated in spirit to believe in and into Him.
No matter how lofty, inspiring, or grand a vision we might have about our future, human agency has no hope of realizing it. It never has, it does not, and it never will save humanity to the full. Eutopia (good society) or utopia (perfect society) can never come through human hope and effort alone. In our time of conflict and disintegration, no matter how much we may wish to avert our gaze and cling to self-concocted fantasies, the reality is stark and progressively dimming. Perhaps exponentially. All the myriad hopes we have in ourselves, our governments, our leaders, our gurus, our spiritual meditations, and our escapades are all going to fail us in the end, even as they are failing us now.
But Christ lives. And He is our one true and living Hope. His death and resurrection is our promise of salvation. His plan and purpose of renewal and restoration in the new heavens and new earth, where our work now has eternal implications that ripple across space and time into the new creation—that must be our Hope. Devoid of Him, all our works end up futile and self-aggrandizing. It is time to turn away from sinful rebellion and into God's presence by grace alone through faith alone. No time to lose.
