Resources/Articles
Getting "In The Way"
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The ancient Romans were known for their roads, which crisscrossed their empire with wide, heavily traveled highways. It’s what Jesus’ audience would have pictured when he claimed, “I am the way.”
While this verse indicates Christ is the way to heaven, some believe Jesus gets in the way - their way. He is preventing them from happiness. He is limiting their lives with His commands. He is confining them from being free to do what they please. All those thoughts are ideas man has to give himself more pleasure and comfort in his own way of life.
If you cut through the dense jungle of our world, Jesus is our trail-guide who makes a new way for us to live. Many will see no problem looking at the opposite sex to lust, yet Jesus says looking to lust causes you to commit adultery in your heart before ever engaging in the physical act (Matthew 5:27-30). Others follow the way of the world by loving their friends and hating their enemies. Jesus carves out a new way: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you” (Matthew 5:44). It is easy to judge and criticize others, but Jesus the Way-maker says to take the plank out of your own eye first (Matthew 7:3-4). Our Lord cuts a path for us to live with generosity instead of greed (Luke 12:13-34).
With Jesus as “the way,” we have the best path to follow toward the freedom in being what God created us to be. Jesus calls us to leave the old ways that lead to destruction and follow Him in His new way for us to live. In fact, the word follow in Mark 8:34 literally means “to be found in the way” with Him. You and I can make the choice to travel the familiar and ultimately destructive ways as most people, or we can follow Him and find the way to God. If we know the way of Christ leads to heaven, there is no reason to fear what is on the path or its terrain upon which we tread. Just allow Him to navigate. Why? Jesus has already been here. He understands and knows the way we were made to follow (Hebrews 4:14-16).
