Follow the One Who Makes a Way
Today’s devotional
An answer can be admired from a distance. A person who invites us to follow asks for a different response. We begin to consider how our trust, conduct, and commitments might change within a relationship. The Christian confession about Jesus reaches that personal point: the One we seek also calls us into a way of life.
John places Jesus' words about the way, truth, and life within his care for troubled disciples before his death. Thomas voices uncertainty about where he is going. Jesus directs them toward himself and toward the Father made known through him. The passage offers communion and trust within the approaching crisis, rather than a technique by which the disciples can control what happens next.
Christ's way is visible across the Gospel in mercy, truth, service, and self-giving love. His cross confronts the cost of that love, and his resurrection opens hope beyond the power of death. Following him therefore asks more than borrowing an inspiring idea. It invites repentance where our lives harm others, reception of grace where we cannot repair ourselves, and participation in the care through which neighbors become visible again.
Consider one place where admiration for Jesus could become a concrete response. Is there a truth to acknowledge, a responsibility to receive, or a neighbor whose need calls for attention? Take a step suited to the actual circumstances, seeking counsel where the choice is difficult. You do not have to understand the whole journey before responding to the light you have received. The Lord who addresses troubled disciples can meet your questions as well, giving following its center in a relationship with him and the Father he reveals.
Adapted from Chapter 13: The Waymaker in Light in the Darkness by Dr. R. C. Titus.
Read the Scripture
Open each passage and read slowly. Notice what these words reveal about God and the life before you.
John 14:1-7 · WEBU
1“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
2In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
3If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
4You know where I go, and you know the way.”
5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.”
Pause and respond
For reflection
Where is Christ inviting me from admiration into an actual response of trust and love?
A practice for today
Choose one teaching or action of Jesus that speaks to a present responsibility. Identify a specific response, seek wise counsel if needed, and offer that action as a practical expression of following him.
A prayer
Jesus, way, truth, and life, receive my troubled questions and guide my response. Help me move from admiration toward faithful participation in your love. Give me courage for repentance, humility to receive grace, and attention to the neighbor before me. Keep my next step rooted in relationship with you. Amen.
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