I have been reading the devotional book The Way written by the great Methodist evangelist and missionary E. Stanley Jones. As I posted to my Facebook page this morning, the devotion for today (February 12) begins thus —
The Way is not merely written in the Book; it is written in us and in our relationships. I predict that this will become the most thrilling, exciting, rewarding adventure in the days to come. Science, philosophy, education, economics, business, politics, sociology—all branches of human approach to life—are poised to converge upon one thing: the discovery of the Way.
In Acts 9:2 we hear about Saul (who becomes Paul) heading to Damascus to arrest those who belong to “the Way.” Interestingly the only the place in Acts where this designation occurs. It is the phrase that Jones adopts as the title of his book.
The Way – a path, a journey, a road to follow. Our faith is not a destination, an end. It is a process. A journey. A path from where we are to where God wants us to be. More accurately a journey from where we are to God. It is no coincidence that Jesus tells his disciples “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
Not a new thought for me but one that fits well with where my thoughts have run lately. What if we re-imagined our faith as being on the Way. As followers not of an intellectual abstraction that we call faith but rather of a way of living and of life.
Something to think about for me… perhaps you, too.