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HEN spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life according to the Gospel of Saint John 14:6. Do we yet not understand the Way through this foreboding wilderness of the world? To know Christ is to know the Way for He is the Way personified. The way has been pointed out to us in great simplicity and example – And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. (John 14:3-7) What path did our Lord walk, and how do we follow?
We read from a great devotional classic of some six hundred years past these words: he who follows Me, walks not in darkness, says the Lord. By these words of Christ we are advised to imitate His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened and free from all blindness of heart. Let our chief effort, therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ. Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, 1420 AD. If Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, then every step He took is the Way we should live, think, and act. We follow Him in his tireless journeys across the sands, seas, and cities both doing good and teaching by example and action. Our Lord took compassion on every poor sinner and diseased person He met. He treated the sinner with deep compassion yet righteous firmness. The only people the Lord held in contempt were those who were of high pride, of hypocritical disposition, of uncaring approach to those of less fortune. The greatest number of this lot were the religious leaders of the land – Scribes, Pharisees, and rulers. These would represent most mega-churches of today. These, as well, probably constituted the greater number of sinners among the people.
Becoming a Christian is not the answer to worldly problems but very likely the means by which those are magnified. The way of Cain is a very suitable way for the world, but to the Way of Christ, the world takes burning umbrage. It is OK in the eyes of the world to pretend to be a Christian as long as you do not take your profession seriously and continue in the way of Cain. But if you stand with strong resolution on that Solid Rock of Christ, you will be ridiculed, ostracized, and persecuted. Many are even beheaded in our day for refusing to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. The antichrist is alive and well in every part of the globe.
If Jesus did not value riches above all, neither should we. He had no place to lay His head. If Jesus would travel the wilderness slopes of Samaria to meet a lonely woman at Jacob’s Well, so should we be willing. If Jesus took o vacations when the fields were white for harvest, neither should we. If the Lord was willing to lay down His life for others, our own sacrifice could not compare. He is not just the Way here on earth, but the Way out of our tomb, the Way of ascending to the Gates of Splendor – for that is what He did.
With what disposition should we travel the dark night of the world? By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:7-16)
It behooves us as well to travel the road of this earthly sojourn as pilgrims who need not be attracted to wealth and riches as much as to the goal that awaits every happy pilgrim at journey’s end.
