The Only Key

While my husband was out of town recently, he asked me to retrieve something out of the toolbox mounted in the back of his truck.  No problem.  I grabbed my keys, and endeavored to open the lock, but to no avail.  I might mention that this particular lock has been a source of aggravation to me for a long time.  It seems that my key just doesn’t want to turn in the lock.  Not to be outdone by a simple mechanism, I rubbed my half-frozen hands together and gave the key a mighty wrench.  To my great surprise, it yielded to my power – or so I thought.  I looked down and gasped as I realized the key had snapped off in the lock!  Not good! 

I called my husband, thankful for the long distance between us at that moment, and told him we would have to pry the door open and take the lock out.  He sighed, in an oh-so-longsuffering way, and said it was okay.  I managed, with the help of some friends to get the door pried open, and the lock taken out of the toolbox door. 

It was only after he arrived home that I found out why my key would not turn in the lock.  Several months ago, when we were escaping from being parked next to a burning RV (read my earlier posts this year), he dropped his keys in his haste.  We had duplicates made of the trailer keys and house keys, but he took my copy of the toolbox key.  I don’t think I even knew about his petty theft.  So, they key I tried to use was not, in fact, the right one.  Oops! 



There is a spiritual parallel to this story.  God has given us the only key to salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Without Christ, all our attempts to access eternal life and heaven are fruitless.  Religion, good works, doing our best – none of these work in the end.  They might fill the hole, just as my key fit in the lock, but when it comes to actually working, they fall short of doing the job.  No matter how sincere my belief that I was doing the right thing, my efforts only ended in destruction and despair. 

As we approach the Christmas season, let us ponder the true meaning of Christmas.  Jesus Christ, God Himself, humbled Himself and became human.  He lived a sinless life and died a horrible death to take our place.  Accepting His sacrifice is the only key to our eternal salvation.

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