Day 29 – Issue 13

Be Still Know

John 14:6 NLT

Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’

Over the last few days we have considered Jesus’ claim to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. In three clear descriptions, Jesus provides his disciples with an understanding of the life that beckons them as he departs this earth. It is practising faith after Jesus taught and lived it, it is remaining faithful to God no matter what life’s challenge, and it is finding identity in Christ alone.

As someone who throughout life has found it difficult to conform, or in the words of Katey’s social worker, ‘act compliant’, it’s in my nature to challenge the status quo, which is often the overarching authority in place, whether useful to do so or not. While this can be fun, it has its drawbacks since you are never going to be entrusted with anything too important.

I began to appreciate that coming to the Father made certain demands of me. While I might like to engage in the conversation surrounding the impact of culture on faith, I was invited always to remain true to the faith as lived and taught by Jesus, entrusted to his disciples and deposited within the Church. I therefore needed to take my stand within the historic tradition and look out rather than stand outside, criticise and seek to reform Church according to my personal insights.

Then there was a requirement consistently to bow the knee to God in faithful worship, and stop arguing every minute detail of my life. I was to declare my confidence in God in every circumstance, to rejoice and to weep in equal measure, yet always in humility before my creator. Finally, I might discover an end to the restlessness within as I found my true identity was now, and will remain forever, in Christ and his redemptive work alone.

In truth, you can have no argument with the reality of God’s authority, and it is in accepting that authority completely that your freedom lies.

QUESTION: What does it mean for you to say that God has authority in your life?

PRAYER: Jesus, I call you ‘Lord’, but often I’m still the one in charge. Help me to submit to your gracious leading in my life.