“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?””
John 14:5 NLT
I was brought up with the following aphorism, “Any decision is better than no decision.” This suggested that stagnation is the enemy of the good, and to prevaricate is always unhelpful. Most business and self-development books offer up similar advice. However, I question the value of action for its own sake. Jesus is speaking to his closest followers, ahead of his own trials. Thomas honestly admits his confusion. He inadvertently reveals that after three years he has little understanding of what it is Jesus has been teaching and revealing to them. The ride has been exhilarating, its purpose far from clear.
Finding faith at 19 years old, I engaged in following Jesus with enthusiasm. My life was a mosaic of obedience and disobedience. I was unstable in my discipleship, yet in love with God and highly motivated. What I didn’t understand I made up for with enthusiasm. What I didn’t like, or disagreed with, I ignored or reinterpreted to accommodate my own preferences. As such I stumbled into Christian ministry high on enthusiasm and motivation, poor in understanding. I preached Jesus the Way, yet, on reflection, I wasn’t too sure of the way myself and stumbled quite often.
The fact that Jesus declares he is the way reveals that Jesus is the totality of my life. I initially found something that intrigued me, gave me opportunity and allowed my ego full rein. It was mostly about me, and my presentation of a gospel message. Indeed, until calamity breached a hole in my self-confidence, my story was a series of victory reports. My success an indication of God’s blessing. Sadly, this is a secularised version of the gospel. It’s not who God is.
Jesus as the way suggests it is to Jesus we turn for direction, and my experience is that direction might as easily be “stand still” as it is “climb the next soaring peak of achievement”. God’s ways are not our ways, declares Isaiah (55:8).
QUESTION
Can you follow Jesus even if you don’t know where he is going?
PRAYER
Teach me, Lord Jesus, to base my life on you – wherever I am, to seek to follow you, even if I’m not sure of the destination.