August 8

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. — John 14:6 BSB

How is Jesus the way? In every aspect of his being, Jesus is the way for God’s people. His blood is the way to heaven, for, as William Deer expressed, “the whole path is lined with blood.” By shedding his precious blood on the cross, Jesus put away sin through his sacrifice and opened the way to God. His righteousness is also part of the way, for only by being clothed in his glorious righteousness do we have access to and acceptance with God the Father. And his love is the way, for when we walk in love, we walk in him, for he is love. Every part of the way is devised and carried out by the love of his tender heart.

But the way is also the way of tribulation. Wasn’t Jesus himself the great Sufferer? And if he is the way, the only way, then we must be conformed to his likeness in suffering. To have no afflictions or tribulations is to proclaim with a loud voice that we have no union with Christ. Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief!” If we know nothing of sorrow or grief, if we have never experienced tribulation, then we show that we have no communion with him.

Yet, we often turn aside, either “to the right hand” or “to the left,” for there is cowardice in our hearts that cannot bear the cross. We slip into carnal ease and security to escape the painful cross of affliction and suffering. But when we stray, the Lord calls after us, saying, “This is the way.” It is the way of affliction, the way of tribulation, the way of trial. This is the way the King walked, and it is the way all his people have walked before him and after him. It is the only path where the footsteps of the flock can be found.