From the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus taught a message of love and unity focusing His followers on God the Father and the kingdom of heaven. Today He does the same through His true followers, yet so many claim to know Jesus but have no connection with Him or what He taught. Most Christians today practice a life that follows teachings handed down over the centuries, yet do not align with the teachings of Jesus. Tradition is good in some ways, but it is also bad in other ways. For instance, the Jews (Israelites) were called out by God to be His people and to live for Him only. Over the years though, due to the many hand-me-down traditions (most of which were fathered by mankind over the ages) the Jews had drifted so far from the truth that they did not recognize Jesus, whom all scripture, the Law, and the Prophets were pointing to. Worse yet, because they so highly valued their own customs and traditions (religiously) they looked on Jesus as a heretic because He was not practicing Jewish tradition when it comes to the law. In the end, they turned Jesus over to the gentiles (non-believers) to be murdered because He was nothing but trouble for their religious practices. Today you need look no further than the institutionalized church system to see how history repeats itself. With the century old traditions and practices that have been crafted by mankind, today's Christianity has become filled with doctrines to live by (not following Jesus), just as the Jews had their doctrines to live by and no longer followed God. However, Jesus was clear and to the point when He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) My prayer is that the people who make the claim to belong to God today, just as those Jews did in the past, will look past the teachings of man to seek Jesus and learn from Him. We know that as the day of the return of the Lord draws nearer, we must be diligent to live for Jesus according to His way, and no other way.