Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

February 3, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO LEAD US HOME (part 1)

John14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The preceding verses in chapter fourteen are our go to verses about heaven. When discussing heaven, Jesus does make a statement in verse four, to the disciples, that they knew where Jesus was going and that they also knew the way. Thomas was a bit confused, and told Jesus that they knew no such details. He said to Jesus that they did not know where He was going, and wherever that is, they did not know how to get there. Verse six is the response Jesus gave to Thomas’s concern:

“I am the way”
I find it interesting that Jesus answered the second question before he answered the first. In other words, Jesus was saying to the disciples that they did not need to worry where they were going, they just needed to make sure that they were following Jesus. It doesn’t matter where Jesus or they were going to end up, what mattered most is that they were following Jesus. The point is that they would never make it to the destination, unless they were following Jesus. He is telling them that they were putting the cart before the horse. If you just make sure you’re following me, you won’t have to worry about the destination. I have found in my Christian life that Jesus does not always tell me exactly where I’m going to end up or exactly what He’s going to do. My responsibility as a Christian is to simply make sure that I’m following Jesus. Why, because He is the way! We do not need to know the destination or the details, we only need to know the way. Jesus does not tell us the way, because He is the way. Thomas wanted Jesus to tell him how to get to wherever He was going, but Jesus was trying to explain to him that there is no step-by-step process. Jesus wanted Thomas to understand that he did not need to be told the way because Jesus was the way. You and I often ask Jesus to help us figure out how we can make it from point A to point B. Jesus does not need to explain to us the way to get there. He is the way. That means every day all you and I need to do is follow Jesus today. If we do that, we will end up exactly where we are supposed to be.

“I am…the truth”
The Greek word used here for truth is the word “aletheia”. Now this is really deep. The word means truth. When I was in Bible college, our college group that traveled to churches and sang was called the “Alethian Singers”. That was supposed to represent that, in every place that they sang, they were singing the truth. Once again the point that Jesus was making is that He does not help us find the truth, He is the truth. You and I don’t have to struggle our whole life to figure out what is really true, if we will just follow Jesus through His Word, He is the truth. Everything that the disciples were trying to find was right in front of them. The way to get answers from the Lord in your life is not to question Him. The way to get answers from the Lord is to start following Him.

If we will just determine to simply follow Jesus every day, the answers will automatically come.