8th May 2026
The Way
“However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect.”
Acts 24:14 (NIV)
There are numerous footpaths where I live that allow me to roam freely through the countryside. They are called ‘rights of way’ and they give all of us the legal right to walk along them, through public or private land.
It’s a joy to saunter along them in spring and summer, in the midst of the beauty of nature. It’s not the most important right that we have as citizens, but it is one for which I am grateful. But if we are being thankful for the rights we are given, there’s one that surely should get us doing cartwheels of joy as we journey, not along a footpath, but through life. God has given us ‘the right to become children of God’ (John 1:12), but humanity became alienated or estranged from God because of sin. Yet God never stopped intending humanity to be his children, and in Christ that relationship is revealed, restored, and fulfilled.
Back in Isaiah, we read of a way back to God: ‘And a highway will be there’, he wrote, ‘it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way’ (Isaiah 35:8). It’s a sanctified path, separated from sin, and it’s the road back to God.
But it’s no muddy track; it doesn’t wind its way around fields and woods; it’s in no danger of being ploughed up by irritated landowners. It’s a person. It’s Jesus: he is the Way of Holiness; he is our living Way. Jesus united himself with us in our weakness and sin and overcame the estrangement and separation between us and God. He led a life of obedience to the Father, and of perfect holiness in the midst of our sin for all his life, from birth to death. Jesus is righteous, and in him, and in his righteousness, Jesus takes us back to God. Life may deliver some hazards and distress, but in Jesus Christ we are secure, and in him sure in the Way.
No wonder the early Christians were known as followers of the Way. They not only acknowledged Jesus as their Way, but were also led to realise that his Way was the Way of Life, lived in response to his love.
Prayer
Our Father, may we live today rejoicing in your love for us, in providing for us the One in whom we can live, and move, and have our being: our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Keep our footsteps steady as we walk with you in the Way today. Amen.
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Study by: Hilary Buck About the author: |
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Local congregation:
Grace Communion in Lewes
The House of Friendship
208 High Street
Lewes
BN7 2NS
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:00 am
Local congregational contact:
Hilary Buck
Email: lewes@gracecom.church
Like us on www.facebook.com/Grace Communion Lewes
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church