I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 ESV)
Self
Most common mistakes are common.
The most common driving mistake is lack of attention. The most common eating mistake (in America) is eating too much. The most common job-hunting mistake is passivity. The most common financial mistake is not saving.
The most common replacement for Christ is self.
Jesus states pretty clearly that THE way to salvation is through Christ Himself.
While few of us worship Baal, bow down to statues of emperors, or pray to demons, we do make the grave mistake of attempting to self-save.
When we try to impress God with our good choices, we are self-saving. When we try to impress God with our praying habits, we are self-saving. When we try to impress God by making sure we did more good things than bad things today, we are self-serving. When we try to impress God by memorizing a lot, reading a lot, singing a lot, attending a lot, or thinking a lot, we are self-saving.
The only way to come to the Father is through Christ.
The good news is, that those times we attempt to self-save, and therefore fail, Christ steps up and says, “I pay for those things, too.”
But instead, we get to skip over the ineffective failings, and cling tightly to Christ, and only Christ, on our way to God.
Christ alone.