What do the means matter if you’re aiming for the wrong end?

You’ve heard the phrase, “the end justifies the means.”  It’s not always true, but this passage in John’s Gospel makes the terms important.  The end is where we desire to end up. The means are how we get there.

Do you remember the Dr. Seuss classic, “Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now?”  The whole book was a list of ways that Marvin K. Mooney could go, but it was time to go now.  It listed dozens of means, but one clear end.  “Marvin K. Mooney, please go now.”  The end was for Marvin to go.  The means where any of the ways for Marvin to leave.

In election season, we’re all aiming for a desirable end—an improved nation.

The disagreement is over what an improved nation would be, and what means will get us there. At times we talk as if a certain candidate were the end.  The climax of all this will be to have this person or that person in the Oval Office.  But that is wrong.  The candidates are not ends in themselves; they are means.  The objective is an improved nation, and we vote on what we think will be the better means to that end.

In life we’re aiming for an end.  And what is that end?  What will truly matter for eternity?  We often make the mistake of using God as a means to the end we think we want.  God can get me this.  God, if He is a good means, will give me my desired end.

But God is not the means to a greater end.  God is the end.  If we don’t have the right end, we cannot have the right means.

Jesus is the end and the means.  He is the why and the how.  He is not only the way to get it, but He is where we long to end up, the eternal treasure. . .John 11.45 means-end