Finding the Way
Object: A map
Some people are very good with directions…others are not. I lived next door to a guy when I was in seminary. His name was Wayne and this is how he gave directions. He would say something like….go up this street for one mile, then you will see Main street; when you do, don’t turn there….go up two more miles and you will see a big church there on the left and you will see a road leading to the interstate…don’t take it. In other words he gave directions by telling us what NOT to do. So needless to say we stopped asking him for directions.
If you are going on a trip, you need to know where you are going and how to go to get there. A map gives us directions and if you learn how to read one it is very helpful. Now many people have a GPS in their car or on their personal phone and it will talk to you and tell you every turn to make. Amazing.
Jesus was speaking to the disciples and he told them, in my father’s house, there are many mansions…if it were not so I would have told you but because it is so I have gone to prepare a place for you that where I am you can be also.” But the disciples said we don’t know how to get there. We don’t know the way. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 (NIV)
All of us have choices we will make in life. Make choices about places we will go, people we will hang out with and who we will marry and what we will do with our lives. So we need some help in finding the right way to go, don't we? Many difficult decisions. So how do we decide? Some say well I feel like going here. Well the map says go here. Yeah but I don’t feel like it. We can’t go by our feelings.
Some people make choices by what's popular. Have you ever tried to convince your parents to let you do something by saying, "Everybody's doing it"? Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't mean that it is the right thing to do, does it? Besides, tomorrow everyone might be doing something else. There is one sure way to know if we are going in the right direction in life—and that is to follow Jesus. Pray. Ask Him and He will give us the right directions.
Dear Father, help us each day as we journey through life to follow Jesus, because we know he is the way, the only way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
