The Way The Truth The Life - Stuart Sneddon
Whenever Ann and me go out driving somewhere new, Ann will always say for us to put the details into the sat nav to give us the directions. When I am in the car by myself I won't bother with the sat nav and I try to figure out how to get to my intended destination. This doesn't always work out so well for me as I don't have the directions and so I can get lost! In the same way following Jesus is all about giving direction to our lives.
In John 14:6 Jesus says "I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me." When reading this verse recently two things jumped out at me; First Jesus says the way, the truth and the life, He doesn't say a way, a truth and a life. On the back of this the second thing that jumped out is that these three things Jesus describes Himself as, are all directions which Jesus calls us to follow.
The Way
In Exodus God provided a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire in the night to show the people of Israel the way to go. He was leading them out of a life of slavery and oppression in Egypt and into a life of freedom. Jesus is leading us into this as well. If you follow His way, we are lead out of a life of slavery to sin and into freedom.
The Truth
In the world today believing in one truth can be a controversial belief. The creator of the NHS Aneurin Bevan once said "This is my truth, tell me yours." In society today it is OK to believe in different truths, however, Jesus says He is the truth, and this truth is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8). The bible and the Holy Spirit direct us how to live our lives and sometimes this goes against "social norms" but we should always remember that His way is the one true way.
The Life
In Luke 15:11-32 we read the story of the prodigal son. A man decides to live his life his way. He parties, he drinks too much and blows all of his money. While sitting in a pig sty contemplating eating the pig scraps he comes to the conclusion that the life he had chosen was not the best for him. At this he returns home to his father, hoping that he will be able to be a servant in his father's house. His father sees him while he is still far off, runs to him and welcomes his son back home and back into the life he was supposed to live.
Jesus is the example for how we should live our lives. Read the gospels and see what He did while walking with His disciples. He showed compassion to people, He was generous, He healed people, He lead others to salvation. But I know in my heart He would have laughed and joked with His disciples who were His friends. This life we are called to, is far from boring.
We all from time to time get lost or take a wrong turn especially if we don't use our sat navs. When you find this has happened to you, stop and look at the sat nav. When you find in life this has happened to you, stop, look to Jesus and follow His way, His truth and His life.