All roads don’t lead to the same place. In fact, the path that you’re on right now is leading you somewhere. Do you know where you’re going? As I sat down and lit the candle on my prayer altar and began to pray, I started journaling my God-breathed thoughts. Now, in faith, I’m writing, asking the Holy Spirit to inspire me to write using the prompts, keys, and words that He’s etching on my mind and heart. Although I’m not sure what I’m going to write, I know where I’m heading.
I’m following Jesus. I know and trust that Jesus is the way. He’s the person, path, and process. He lights the way. He leads the way. He invites us to come and to follow Him. Jesus’ thoughts and ways are higher than our thoughts and our ways. Jesus is the only way to The Father. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, He made the way for us to be saved. Now we can be reconciled to God and to one another.
If your thoughts and decisions have created alternative neuropathways and narratives and roads that are stressing you out, you’re not lost. Jesus knows exactly where you are. He’s with you even when you can’t see Him or feel Him. He’s familiar with all of your ways. He’s relentlessly pursuing you in love. Jesus is just waiting for you to give up striving for something else so that you will surrender to Him.
In a world filled with sinful distractions, distorted messages, and attractive alternatives, it’s easy to lose our way. It’s easy to get confused, consumed, discouraged, and disconnected. Have you ever had a face-to-face reality check in the mirror? Ever looked at yourself and said, “What was I thinking?” or “What am I doing?” Sometimes we get everything backwards. We get it all wrong. We’ve listened to the wrong people or the wrong messages, and before long, we’re off doing our own thing and wondering why our lives feel so messed up. I want more. I want what I want. I want what I don’t have. I want what you have. I want to be like you. I want to feel better. I want to be left alone. I want to give up. If “I” messages pervade your life, then you’ve become lord. When you become lord, Jesus isn’t Lord in your life.
Although it doesn’t always feel good, Jesus is good at disrupting our “I’m in control” or “I’m out of control” lives, getting our attention, and getting us back on His path. Maybe it’s through a song that we hear. Maybe it’s through a person that we meet who says something to us or invites us to do something that we weren’t planning to do. Maybe it’s through a conflict, loss, or crisis. Jesus is a loving and jealous God who doesn’t want to compete for our attention. If we want more money, more comfort, or more success, we may be too busy, too comfortable, or too preoccupied to listen and to follow Jesus. We may want our way more than Jesus’s way. We may have our way, but we won’t have peace. Peace will only come as we follow the way and ways of the Master. Listen. He’s calling.