Father, as I have sat down today in preparation for Sunday, I give You praise for pulling together things together to where they are at this point. You always know best, and your timing is always perfect.

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A few days ago I used the phrase “the Way” when referring to Christianity. I’m leaning a bit more into the concept of that phrase for a couple of reasons. One is the fact that being affiliated with the term Christian is looked upon with more and more disdain in today’s world. Merriam-Webster defines disdain as open dislike for someone or something considered unworthy of one’s concern or respect.

The thing is, if Jesus’ followers were truly following Him – loving Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving others as they loved themselves – then we could stalwartly bear the disdain. (Though in all honesty, if we truly lived that way, unbelievers would be hard-pressed to feel that way about us!)

But the thing is, many who claim to be Christians are not living as we have been called to live…grieving our Lord Jesus.

Secondly, I’ve started following a gentleman named Chad Bird on TikTok. He has served as pastor, professor, and guest lecturer in Old Testament and Hebrew. He will often speak about a certain Hebrew word and then expound upon it, in a short but pithy exchange.

A few days ago, he shared the name by which the followers of Christ were first called, the Way. (It is used several times in the book of Acts.) The word in Hebrew is derekh (it’s pronounced pretty much how it is spelled). So, in the Old Testament, a derekh is a way or a road, but it’s also a custom or a journey, or a behavior.

He stated that it really sums up Christianity because it’s a holistic word encompassing deeds and creeds, faith and love, believing and doing.

I wholeheartedly agree that being a follower of Christ is rich and deep. We are who we are as believers – as followers of the Derekh – because of who Jesus is…not because of who we are or who we make Him out to be. So, when you follow Christ, you follow Him on the derekh, on the Way.

Psalm 25 is a perfect expression of this…you could call it the Derekh Psalm because the word…occurs several times in various forms. Verse 9 begins with the verb “he leads” and ends with the noun “the way” – both words are forms of the word derekh.

“He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.” NASB

So, now take that and think about who Christ is.

In John 14:5-6 one of Jesus’ disciples said to Him,

“Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life…” AMP

Christ is the Way to the Father, he is our Derekh that leads us into the arms of our heavenly Father. and so, we follow Him on the way because He is the Way.

And I, for one, want to be part of the Way!

Oct 18th, 2022, Tues, 12:58 pm