Hitting the flow

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.  John 14:6

This past Sunday my second oldest daughter was involved in a regional free-throw competition for girls in her age group.  She had won the local and district competitions respectively leading up to this one.  Standing at the free-throw line she successfully scored fourteen of twenty-five shots to win the regional competition.  In essence, she had hit the target more consecutively than the others.

One of the self-proclaimed titles that Jesus made about Himself was ‘the way’ (John 14:6).  Jesus was responding to Thomas’ inquiry about finding the way to the place that Jesus was going.  When Jesus announced that He was leaving it literally shook the disciples.  However, Jesus responds with a statement that many are familiar with.  But how exactly is Jesus the way?

As the embodiment of God Himself, Jesus shows us not only how to live, but how we are able to be with The Father forever.  Jesus is the only access to the Father because He is the only One from the Father.  Therefore, Jesus is the only One who can re-unite creation with its Creator.  In other words, the ‘Way’ to God is to believe that Jesus is ‘Truth’ and ‘Life’.  But what does this look like in everyday life?  Allow me to borrow a basketball analogy. 

If a young basketball player desires to shoot the basketball properly into the basket, they need to learn the art of taking a shot.  I am not a basketball expert, but having been involved with skilled basketball clinicians, there is definitely an art to taking the shot. 

In the Ancient World there weren’t basketball courts to take shots on, but there were targets to hit nonetheless.  Archery was a skill to be learned and developed at a young age.  Young archers would benefit from seasoned shooters who would come alongside the young apprentices and literally help them shoot the arrow properly.  By doing so, the young archer was able to ‘flow’ the arrow to the target successfully.  This Biblical word picture is associated with the Hebrew concept of Torah.  Literally Torah means ‘to flow’ and the Torah was given to us by God in order to help us get into His flow.

As ‘the Way’, Jesus literally fulfills all aspects of the Torah for us.  As the Way, Jesus literally helps us get into the flow of God.  Jesus was literally flowing from the Father back to the Father.  From the Father He came, and to the Father He was moving towards.  Jesus did so not only for His own sake, but for ours.  As God’s Messiah, Jesus provides this flow freely to anyone who believes.  Period. 

I find it very refreshing to believe in a God who sent His Son into our world in order to provide humanity and creation a ‘Way’ back to Him.  In fact, I believe that this is exactly who the God of The Bible is.  He is a merciful, compassionate and loving God who took it upon Himself to redeem the world He loved.  That’s who He is.  Jesus is the very meeting place for us where we can experience the God of Truth and Life.  A heavenly party erupts when individuals accept Jesus into their lives and declare their faith and trust in Him.  It’s almost like a divine swish.  There’s nothing more rewarding to a basketball shooter than to hear the swish of the basketball net when a shot is made.  There is perhaps nothing more exciting in heaven than one of God’s children coming home and accepting Jesus as the Way.

I pray that you will consider getting into God’s flow by accepting Jesus as your Way. 

If you are in the Lindsay area, you are invited to come and join us at Calvary Church.  We are a group of people who are rediscovering the simple joys of loving God and loving each other.  We are a church that is committed to acts of kindness and showing mercy to those around us.  We believe that this is the flow of God that our community needs. 

Maranatha!