GodReflection: How About a Better WAY?
I Am the Way (John 14:6).
Ready or not we are now at the start of the New Year 2024. The new year arrived, the calendar flipped and with my own January 2nd arrival date I began another year of my walk. As this year unfolds, I am reminded anew that it will do so under the rule of Jesus the way. “The way” is Jesus’ self-descriptor of how his rule functions. His way flows from who he is. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
After his resurrection, Jesus’ first followers identified him with his own self-descriptor of I am
the way. Even his enemies apparently used the term to brand him. In the Acts of the Apostles, the outsider Saul of Tarsus who saw as his mission to erase Christ-followers from the landscape, identified them by the peoples’ common usage of the way.
As he prepares to travel to the city of Damascus, Saul obtains arrest warrants from his religious leaders to use . . . if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem (Acts 9:20).
Then when the bright light of Jesus startles him before he reaches his destination, we read that Saul, fell to the ground, and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied (Acts 9:4-5). For Jesus, to attack members of the Way was an attack directed at himself.
Throughout the Book of Acts, the medical doctor Luke traces the story of Jesus through the life of Saul—now the apostle Paul—who follows Jesus the way. From his Damascus Road conversion in Acts 9, chapter after chapter, we encounter the same descriptor. Finally, we hear Paul in his defense before Felix in Acts 24, proclaim the message of Jesus the way, to the governor of Judea.
The Bible is about Jesus the way. I have spent a lifetime in and around Scripture. I have used it at times as a mere tool in preparation of an assignment for the classroom or the pulpit. Unfortunately, Jesus the way was not always apparent in my final product.
I read my Bible cover to cover to see the scope of God’s complete story. I find that everything from Genesis through the final Old Testament prophet Malachi, points to Jesus the way as the main focal point. The New Testament opens with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who jointly tell the story of Jesus’ life on earth. They declare Jesus as Way, Truth, and Life. The Gospels teach me if I can see Jesus, I can see God.
From Jesus I learn the nature of God’s heart and the depth of His love for His creation. I identify God’s value system when I watch and listen to Jesus. I see God’s attributes through Jesus the way.
In Jesus is the very heart of all that God is up to in this world and the next. He is truly the way. Through Jesus, I learn to follow God is an issue of the heart.
Then, after the Gospels, from the Acts of the Apostle through Jesus’ Revelation to the Apostle John I see infant members of the body of Christ attempt to live out their trust in Jesus and their commitment to him as their Savior. He is their only way.
One quick observation: For far too much of my life, I read the Bible in segments without the realization that it is one story that moves forward—in any direction—toward Jesus the way. Too often in my past, I limited my direction and read the story only backwards. At the start of my walk I camped within the Act of the Apostles and the Letters as I 
attempted to make church visible on earth. Out of habit, I strained Jesus and His church through the New Testament Letters. Instead, it seems I should strain the New Testament Letters and the New Testament church through Jesus the way.
Working from the Letters backward to Jesus it is far too easy to build “does” and “do nots” from fragments of Scripture and draw speculative conclusions that fail to live up to the heart of Jesus the way as presented in the Gospels. I will do a better job to reflect Jesus in my world when I make the effort to filter life, worship, traditions, and service through Jesus’ example and teachings. It’s Jesus the way.
This year as we read our Bible let us be reminded that the entirety of the Biblical message relates to its core purpose to declare Jesus the way. Let’s remember that our Bible is not only inspired—it is God-breathed. It pulsates with God’s Spirit. Let’s feel its holy breath.
Let’s seek Jesus the way as reveled through Scripture, to find the exact help we need. May we live in the expectation that holy help will jump toward us from its pages. It’s as if God knows what’s going on in our lives and sets holy insights exactly where we need to find divine assistance. That help is found only in Jesus the way.
I like the idea of a breathing pulsating Bible.
Like Paul’s young apprentice Timothy, the Holy Scriptures has paralleled my life since infancy.
The Holy Scriptures which are able to make you (me) wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. —Because—All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-16).
It is from this foundation that I will attempt to place in words my partial understanding of how Scripture functions as it declares, Jesus the way.
As we walk together through 2024, Let’s Focus Our Hearts on Jesus THE BETTER WAY.
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on How About a Better Way?
Gary@GodReflectionBlog.com
WWW.GodReflectionblog.wordpress.org
God Reflection 
Very helpful thoughts Gary. Thank you for reminding us that we view scripture through the lens of Jesus, his life and teachings and avoid viewing Jesus through the lens of scripture. In the end all is helpful and useful but Jesus sets the tone.
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