WAY: Goodbook 09-06-13

Goodbook messages arrive every Tuesday and Friday with a Scripture reading and ideas for how to apply the reading in our lives. We are reading through the book of Acts. For additional Scripture reading, you can follow the Advanced Track.

Reading: Acts 19:23

23 About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

Application:

Before followers of Jesus were called Christians, they were referred to people who belonged to “the Way.”  This label comes from something Jesus once said.  He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14:6).  Have you ever thought about what that means?  How is Jesus the Way?  Here are a few thoughts…

First, Jesus is the Way to God.  He finishes his sentence in John 14:6, “No one can come to the Father except through me.”  It is through his coming to earth, his sacrifice on the cross, his forgiveness, his mercy, and his resurrection that Jesus opens up a bridge, a path, a way to God.  He is the welcome mat, the door, the key, the hinges, and the opening to a new relationship with God forever.

Second, Jesus reveals the Way to live.  Through his example and through his teaching, Jesus shows us the way we were created to live, the way that leads to true, abundant life.  In his final commission, Jesus instructs his followers to teach others to obey all his commands.  While his grace makes a way, his commandments show the way.  I had to ask myself if I even knew all of his commands, let alone followed them or taught them to others.  So now I am doing some research about his commandments so I can obey them and teach them.

In our verse from Acts 19:23, we read that one again there was a disturbance about the Way.  The Way will always cause a disturbance in our lives.  The primary reason is because God's way often conflicts with our way and the way of our world.  Yet I have found that God’s Way is always better.  Even when I don’t understand it fully, even when it’s hard, even when I may not want to, when I choose God’s way it always turns out better than when I choose my own way.

Jesus primary invitation was to “Follow me.”  Follow the Way.  He invites us to follow his way to God.  He invites us to follow his way to live.  Whose way are you following?

1) Follow Jesus to mercy, love, forgiveness, and new life with God.
2) Follow the commandments of Jesus.
3) Follow the way of Jesus even when (maybe especially when) it conflicts with your way.

Share your comments and application ideas…