That You May Believe

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Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”   --John 14:5-6 I don’t know about you, but I think Thomas has gotten a bad rap over time. We call him “Doubting Thomas,” but I don’t think Thomas was so much a doubter as that he just had questions and he was willing to ask those questions. Now, the rest of the disciples, they were sitting there listening to Jesus in this scene we read about in today’s passage. They were saying, “Yes, Lord, yes, amen, amen, amen.” But Thomas said, “Wait a minute, Lord, we don’t know where you’re going! This is all confusing to us. How can we know the way?” I’m so glad Thomas asked that question! Because Jesus gave one of the most significant statements in all of the Word of God in response: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And Jesus isn’t just the only way to God. He’s the only way if you’re bewildered or brokenhearted. He’s the only way if you’re agitated, anxious, or fearful. No matter what you’re facing, Jesus Christ is the way… no matter how uncool or unpopular that is to say in our world today. JESUS ISN’T JUST THE ONLY WAY TO GOD. HE’S THE ONLY WAY IF YOU’RE BEWILDERED, BROKENHEARTED, AGITATED, ANXIOUS, OR FEARFUL.

The Value of Obedience

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.”
Luke 8:19–21
A number of years ago a preacher went to the Champness Hall in Yorkshire, England, to hear the noted cellist and conductor Sir John Barbirolli lead the symphony. A friend sitting nearby looked out at the vast crowd in the great hall and asked the preacher, “When will we see the Champness Hall filled to capacity for a Christian service?” The pastor pointed to the members of the orchestra playing on the stage and said, “When we see eighty men willing to give absolute obedience to the will of Christ as these give to Barbirolli.”
One of the most effective temptations Satan uses against Christians who want to do what is right is to try to get them to go their own way rather than obeying God. It is not necessary for him to get us to commit sinful acts. If he can convince us to rely on our own judgment, it will not be long before we are completely off track, for our judgment cannot be trusted. The Lord is not looking for people to go their own way, but to go His way.
The commitment required to be a victorious Christian and true disciple of Jesus is that we obey what God has commanded, just as Jesus did. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Only when we are living in obedience can we experience close fellowship with the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Unless we are yielded to the commands of God, we cannot truly say that we are following Jesus.