Acts 24:14a However,
I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which
they call a sect.
It wasn’t called ‘Christianity’ in Paul’s
time; faith in Christ was called “The Way.” Over the centuries, we have institutionalized
and religion-ized something sacred that was meant to be the pathway to Heaven
and the manner in which we live our lives on Earth. We’ve turned it into
something legalistic and unloving, stratified and staid, instead of attractive,
amiable, and amenable to everyone.
For most of my life, I’ve been a
Presbyterian pastor and sometimes I wonder if I’ve truly followed the Way, or
if I have been led astray by my own ambition, opinion, and understanding. In
recent years, I’ve sought to walk a different path and steer a steadier course
towards Jesus. It’s not been easy, because change has always been challenging
to me. And sometimes, the closer I seem to get to Christ, the more I allow distractions
to get in the way.
This morning I was writing this week’s Summer
Sunday School lesson and Christ’s words about being totally committed to
Him just stung me. Jesus expects His followers like me to be focused upon following Him; He leads the way to The
Way – my work is to find His footsteps and pursue Him. The trouble I have with
it is this: I like being distracted and so some days, I end up in a maze of my
own making, instead of being on the pathway of the Path Maker.
Today is another day on this journey
from Earth to Heaven. Hopefully, we are all seeking The Way through His truth,
to the glory of His Life.
Questions for personal reflection
Where am I
today? On Christ’s path that leads to Life, or on some distracted dead end?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, show us the path that
You would have us take today. Be the Way that we follow, as well as the Way
that we live. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.
John
Stuart is the pastor of Erin
Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment
on today’s message, please send him an email to traqair@aol.com.
Today’s
image is one of John’s Psalm drawings. It represents a verse in Psalm 37. If
you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3357/3283895612_313bf65d2a_b.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment