Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16, KJV

Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd spent a long, dark Antarctic winter at the South Pole. For a period of four months he lived alone, conducting scientific experiments. During this time, Byrd never saw a sunrise, for in the Antarctic when the sun sets it is for the duration of a long winter.

On one occasion Byrd grew restless in the little hut he had built, and so he took a walk to refresh himself. Dressing as warmly as possible, Byrd set out across the frozen ice, thoroughly enjoying himself. Soon though, his pleasure turned to concern, for he suddenly realized that he had gone farther than he had anticipated. The sight of his hut had disappeared. It was snowing and the snow had quickly covered his tracks. He realized that if he wandered across the frozen wasteland he would certainly freeze in a few hours. No human being was ever more alone than he was at that moment, but the measure of the man is that he did not panic.

He had a staff, a kind of walking stick, with him and he drove it into the ice. “Here is my center,” he thought. “The hut cannot be far, so if I can keep this center in sight I can try out different directions until I find the hut.” Once across the ice and back, twice and back, he just could not go far enough to find the hut and the storm limited his visibility. As he came back the third time, he grew more concerned, but then the clouds blew back and in the distance Byrd saw the hut which was his home. It was the staff which gave him direction that saved his life.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Roman soldiers took a cross and drove it in the ground outside the city of Jerusalem, and that cross has been a direction finder for all people everywhere. “I must needs go home by the way of the cross,” wrote the songwriter, “there’s no other way but this.” That cross gives direction to humankind because it reminds us that not only is all time divided by His coming, but that it was here that God demonstrated His true love for all mankind. Centuries before Christ came, the psalmist wrote, “This God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:4). Notice those words‑‑”He will be our guide even unto death.”

Christianity is unique in many ways, but one of them is its narrowness. Luke, the man who wrote more of the New Testament than even the Apostle Paul, said, “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

If Christ is the way to God‑‑the way, the truth and the life‑‑as He said, how do we make Him our Savior? Paul explained, “God made Him to be sin for us…that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”(2 Corinthians 5:21). John also said, “As many as received Him, to them God gave the authority to become His sons, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).

Christianity is not a legalistic system, not a matter of joining a church‑‑it is not a bag of do’s and don’ts. It is a relationship with the one who was born at Bethlehem. To receive Him as Lord and Savior and to walk in His footsteps is precisely what is necessary to make Heaven your home. As Admiral Byrd was guided to the safety and warmth of his hut, so you can let the cross guide you across the barren waste of life to heaven’s home. The cross yet leads home!

Resource reading: Galatians 2.