The People of the Way

Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE-not merely the way-shower, the truth-giver and the life-imparter. In other words, He doesn't just tell us what to do, explain to us what He means, and give to us a portion of His own life. We must become ONE with Him in all three areas. We must be fully identified with Him. Then as we begin to identify with Him we discover areas of Truth and Life that we could never discover through much study and effort. The people of the New Testament Church in their early beginnings used to refer to themselves as the people of the Way.

I used to ponder this a lot. Saul persecuted "this Way," and after his conversion he testifies that he worshipped God after the "Way" that men called heresy. God's people are a people of the WAY. They are going somewhere... not after they die, but NOW. They have purpose, vision, enlightenment; and are but pilgrims and strangers in the earth. Like Abraham of old God's people know that they are in the land that God promised them, but it is still not "home." All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are meaningful to us and very real, but if we are truly a people of the Way, as Abraham was, we have that feeling that we are not really at home... there just must be something more to Life than we have yet experienced.

Take note of this: Abraham was in the land that God had promised him and his Seed forever... but he just knew in his heart that there must be much more to the "land" than what he had seen as he walked through the length and breadth of it. He confessed that he was but a "pilgrim and a stranger"--and the Holy Spirit reminds us that such a testimony as this indicated that he and his Seed were "looking for a City which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). (And don't forget the true Seed of Abraham is "Christ" and those who are in Him--See Galatians 3:13-29.)

All the blessed assurances of the New Testament concerning our position in Christ and our blessedness in Him were never intended of the Lord to cause us to relax in the joy and contentment of that blessedness--but to create within us a hunger to attain to that high calling which as yet reaches far beyond our grasp. Happy is that man or woman who comes to that place in his walk with God when--in spite of all the knowledge and understanding he may have concerning his inheritance in Christ Jesus, he still finds it within his heart to say: "Yes, I thank thee, O Lord, for thy Truth, and for all you have given... but I am not fully satisfied... there is something lacking... what is it Lord?"

For then the Lord who is ever pleased with that individual who delights in Him more than he delights in his knowledge of the Bible... the Lord Himself is pleased to reveal His Way more clearly. Then that hungry one comes to understand that the reason he cannot be satisfied in his present state is because in walking with God, God will not let him be satisfied. And God will not let him be satisfied because there is more, much more that God desires to lead him into.

There is a difference between being "dissatisfied" and "unsatisfied." We must always be thankful for everything God has done for us and brought us into; yet ever desirous of going on with God into the fulness of His intention. Always satisfied with the fresh manna that He gives daily for our every need, but even as we partake of it there remains that unsatisfied hunger to partake of the Old Corn of the land of our inheritance. There is more, much more. There are still heights in God to attain; there are still oceans and depths in God to explore, that we never thought were within the realm of possibility in this life.