The Way

Paul Harvey tells the story about a family on Christmas Eve. This family had a tradition where the Mother and children would go to the Christmas Eve service, and the Father would stay home and read the paper. When the family returns home from church, they would all gather to open up their presents.

The Father was not an evil man, but he just couldn’t believe in the childhood stories anymore of God coming as a baby in a manger. As the family left for church, he opened up the evening paper and began to read by the fireplace.

Suddenly, he heard tapping on the window. It was a bird flying against the glass of his window trying to get out of the snow into the warmth of his home. The man had compassion on the bird, and he went outside, hoping to bring it in.

As he approached the bird, the bird just flew against the window even harder. Pretty soon, the bird flew into the bushes below the window, half frozen, yet too afraid to be caught by this huge man. The more the man tried to reach for the bird, the more the bird flew frantically into the snow and thorns of the bushes.

After a few minutes in the cold and seeing the bird continue to injure itself, the man yelled out in frustration, "Stupid bird, can’t you understand that I’m trying to help?" The man paused and thought, "If only you understood you wouldn’t fly away ... if only ... if only I could become a bird, and get you to understand."

Just then, the church bells rang, as they always have on the hour. But when the man heard the bells this time, he fell to his knees and began to cry, saying, "Oh, God, I didn’t understand. Oh, God, I didn’t understand."

As we rush into the Holiday Season its important that we acknowledge who Jesus is. People all over the world will celebrate the birth of our Savior without realizing or acknowledging that he is God who became man to help you and I understand completely the depth of God’s love and provide a way for us to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

In John 14:6 Jesus makes an amazing revelation, in response to a question from Thomas, about who he is. By telling Thomas that he was the way, the truth and the life he was telling the world how they can better know Him and the Father.

What is Jesus the way to?

He is the way to fulfillment, John 10:10. He has a plan for our lives that lead us to a full and complete life. Many people live busy lives but guilt and doubt keep them from living a full life. Jesus wants you and I to experience life through him, a full life.

Jesus is the way to peace, John 14:27. We look so many different places for peace when all we need is to know Jesus Christ as Savior. He is the ultimate peace and you will never experience a deeper peace than knowing him.

Jesus is the way to unity, John 17:11. Jesus’ desire is that we be united with other believers and with Him in the same way that He was united with God. Why are churches failing to make an impact in their communities, because there is no unity?

Jesus is the way to meaning, John 11:41-44. We should find value in the fact that God has designed us and created us with a purpose. We should find value in the fact that Jesus died specifically for us.

When Jesus told them to remove the grave clothes from Lazarus he was telling Lazarus to go live. Before we came to know Christ we were spiritually dead he resurrected us, called us from the dead, when he called us to salvation. We need to take our spiritual grave clothes off and live for Christ. Live like we have value and meaning because he validated that for us on the cross.

Next week we’ll talk about truth.