Sometimes when the sun has barely begun to rise, my feet hit the ground ready to get outside and walk with God (and my dogs) in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). Other days I don't make it out until evening when I can enjoy the setting of the sun on another day as I traipse either through the woods on my land or through the fields and around the lake nearby. Whether morning or evening, my regular walks are a way for me to lay my burdens at His feet, share the yoke with Him (Matthew 11:28-30), and walk alongside of God in His ways. I've never been consistent in exercise to be honest but walking has been one thing that I always come back to and recently through Mark Buchanan's writing, I've been aware of how my physical activity in walking is also a spiritual activity of connecting with God.
Have you heard His voice in the cool of the day, calling out to you, "Come Follow Me"? When you step out in obedience to His call, He will lead you on The Way, which may be difficult, steep, challenging, or littered with stumbling stones, but you will never walk on this path alone. He promises that He will never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) even when we walk through dark valleys (Psalm 23).
It's almost a guarantee that when we step out in faith and follow Jesus, the path will be challenging but somehow we've imagined that Jesus promised it differently - why isn't this journey easier? we mumble. First of all, it's difficult because it's the narrow way as Jesus describes in Matthew 7:13-14; it's the path that is less traveled. It would be easier to follow along with the ways of the world and just float through life but His call to follow Him means we must die to ourselves (selfishness, mediocrity, pride) and choose the higher road (patience, gentleness, self-control). Walking with Jesus means walking humbly, walking in faith and climbing the mountains in front of us for His glory.
Jesus said that He was the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), which many of us have heard and understood to mean that it is through Him and Him alone that we find truth and the way to God, the Father.
Sometimes when we’ve heard a verse a million times, we don’t see the deeper meaning or grasp the significance of those words.
Jesus is the way…..
Many years ago, I read a book that drew me deeper into this scripture as I had always envisioned myself on a path with Jesus beside me, guiding me along the way, giving me the truth as we walked.
Although this visual is helpful and not entirely incorrect, it did miss the heart of what Jesus said. Jesus isn't just beside me on the way. He said "I AM the Way," meaning that abiding in Him, living with His life in me, that IS the way. The way to walk isn't actually very complicated - it's simply living according to God's precepts and with His spirit in us. I've shared the gospel message with many people using the illustration from Navigators called the bridge, which demonstrated how we must cross over from death and sin to eternal life and godliness only through the cross. In this visual, Jesus is literally the bridge, the way across the impassible divide between mankind and a holy God.
The next time you take a walk, amble around your neighborhood, or hike into the mountains, consider what it means that Jesus is THE WAY.
Following Jesus takes us on a path of death to self in order to live a new life in Him. It isn't the most popular road to take, but it's the only one with the destination of eternal life. Along the way, we may find ourselves lured off onto a fork in the road the seems enticing but is just a rocky wilderness of stumbling stones. Thankfully, Jesus continues to call us back to Him, even coming after us in our folly, rescuing us from our mistakes. But if we keep our eyes on Him and our ears attuned to His voice, we will hear His gentle whisper telling us, "this is the way, walk in it."
I write this with transitions in mind, for those who are at a bend in the road and wanting to know the way forward - for new graduates stepping out into the world, for someone taking a new job, or making a big life change. Each new step you take can be on God's way if you choose to listen to His voice and follow Him.
I write this with transitions in mind, for those who are at a bend in the road and wanting to know the way forward - for new graduates stepping out into the world, for someone taking a new job, or making a big life change. Each new step you take can be on God's way if you choose to listen to His voice and follow Him.
Wherever your paths take you today, may God go with You and may you walk in His ways.
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