THE LONG AND WINDING...WAY

Greetings fellow sojourners...how's the WAY? This JOURNEY that we are on...is filled with turns, hills, valleys, detours, straight roads, adventure, joys... disappointments... HISappoinments...but it is worth it.

Back on May 23rd 1970...The Beatles had their last #1 single...THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD. "The long and winding road...that leads to your door..." It was performed in the movie LET IT BE...that chronicles the final day of breakup of the group that said..."all you need is love...and then they broke up." (Larry Norman) The controversy over the song was in the remixing of the song by Phil Spector without Paul's permission...adding strings, horns, female chorus etc. Phil applied that WALL OF SOUND that he was so famous for in the 60's. Many years later...a version closer to the original intention was released on the album LET IT BE...NAKED. I personally enjoyed both version. "...let me know the WAY." (The Long and Winding Road)

WAY: hodos' (hod-os')= a road by implication a PROGRESS (the ROUTE, act or distance)...figuratively a mode or means--journey, highway.

Jesus made a statement...that at the time was religiously incorrect...and if uttered in these days...would also be religiously incorrect as well as politically correct.

Jesus was talking to his boys...about where he was about to go...to prepare a place for them. There hearts were troubled...and Jesus was telling them to replace their troubled hearts with belief in God and Him. Good words for these troubled times. (John 14:1-3)

Jesus stated...YOU KNOW THE WAY...where I am going." (John 14:4). This statement brought up the question in Thomas' mind..."Lord, we do not know where Yo are going; how do we know THE WAY." (John 14:5) Jesus dropped the bomb (shot) heard around the world...that is still reverberating...

"Jesus said to him (Thomas)...I AM THE WAY...and THE TRUTH...and THE LIFE...NO ONE comes to the Father...but THROUGH ME." (John 14:6)

"...I am the ROAD/PROGRESS/ROUTE/JOURNEY/HIGHWAY....no one comes to the Father but THROUGH ME...JESUS...D.B.R...BLOOD....NOTHING MORE...NOTHING LESS.

Note that Jesus did not say that He was A WAY...A TRUTH...A LIFE. All roads may lead to Rome...but NOT to the Father. If you put THE FATHER in your SPIRITUAL GPS SYSTEM...it would not come up with various religious leaders, philosophies, cults, sects, etc...it would come up with JESUS. If you try to go any other way other than Jesus...you would hear...RECALCULATE.

"Every man's way is right in his own eyes...but the Lord weighs the heart... motives...and attitudes." (Proverbs 21:2)

"There is a way which seems right to a man...but its END is the WAY of death (destruction)." (Proverbs 14:12)

"There is a WAY which seems right to a man...but its end is the WAY of death (destruction)." (Proverbs 16:25)

Sometimes...it seems in our minds...that we are going down the RIGHT ROAD... the correct WAY...but when you place it on the Lord's scales...that weighs our motives and attitudes...we end up lost...circling the mountain again and again like the children of Israel in the wilderness.

During the late 60's and early 70's there was a revival going on among young people...that was dubbed by Time Magazine as THE JESUS MOVEMENT. Larry Norman who was with a rock and roll group called PEOPLE...had a #1 hit called I LOVE YOU (originally done by the Zombies). Larry dropped out at the pinnacle of success...and hit the streets to sing and witness for Jesus in L.A. The index finger...extending heavenward...was the battle cry for the movement...ONE WAY...ONE WAY TO HEAVEN...HOLD YOU FINGERS HIGH. The song speaks of the poet who wrote about two ROADS diverging...and taking the one LESS TRAVELED.

The ROAD less traveled that the Bible speaks of is the THE WAY.

One of the names of this "new religion"...that followed Jesus was called THE WAY.

Saul...latter to get saved and be called Paul...was breathing threats and murder against the DISCIPLES OF THE LORD (Acts 9:1) "And...asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus...so that if he found ANY BELONGING TO THE WAY...both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." (Acts 9:2)

It was around 10 years from the original event of the D.B.R. where these followers of the WAY...were first called CHRISTIANS in Antioch.
(Acts 11:26) They were still called followers of the WAY after being called CHRISTIANS..."But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of THE WAY before the multitude..." (Acts 19:9) "And about that time there arose no small disturbance concerning THE WAY." (Acts 19:23).

Paul testifying...spoke of his former way of life..."And I persecuted THIS WAY...to the death, binding and putting both men and women in prison..." (Acts 22:4)

"But this I admit to you...that according to THE WAY...which they call a sect...I DO SERVE THE GOD of our fathers, believing everything that is written in accordance with the Law, and that is written in the Prophets..." (Acts 24:14)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

This WAY...is motivated by LOVE. "And I show you a still more EXCELLENT WAY." (I Corinthians 12:31) Paul then proceeds to outline the nature and character of the LOVE (agape') that should rule all other loves (eros, phileo, storge')...because the GREATEST of faith, hope, and love...is THE EXCELLENT WAY.

This is the WAY...into the presence of the Father..."Since therefore brethren, we have confidence to ENTER the holy place...BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS..by a NEW AND LIVING WAY WHICH He (Jesus) inaugurated for us through THE VEIL...that is HIS FLESH...and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...havin our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water..." (Hebrews 10:19-22)

If you took a piece of paper and wrote on one side...YOUR WAY...and on the other side JESUS...you would probably come to the conclusion that your WAY was RIGHT...but...the END of the journey would be destruction. The END of the journey...through THE WAY...the TRUTH...and THE LIFE...is into the arms of the Father.

Enjoy the journey...and if you are going the wrong way...RECALCULATE.

Love and Traveling Kisses
Rodney "On The Road Again" Boyd