You know the way to the place where I am going.’
Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’
Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.
John 14.4-6.
Comment
Thomas wanted to know the way to be with God… how to get there. Maybe he was looking for directions, or a map, or a list of instructions and things he had to do.
Jesus says I’m the way. The way to God is through a relationship with me.
The enormity of this still has to sink in. In my case I spend so much time devoted to work. Is it ‘super conscientiousness’ or is it because really I still believe I have to earn my salvation… or another reason perhaps?
If I really believed it was all about a relationship then I guess I’d be much easier to be with: more relaxed, less driven, more time for Jesus, more like Jesus, more time for people, nicer.
Discuss this together
How might your behaviour change if you really believed that the way to be with God was through a relationship with Christ, not through what you do?
How might this affect your relationship with your one another?
Prayer (for couples)
Dear Lord, Thank you that we can be reconciled with our father God through you. Help us to really understand this Lord. Through your word and in the power of the Holy Spirit transform our thinking and the way we behave. Help me to recognize that it’s all about you and what you’ve done. Help my relationship to with you grow and to transform my behaviour and relationship with …. (spouse’s name). Amen.
Prayer for (one another)
Dear Lord we pray for ….. and …. and for other couples in our community.
Help them to understand the Gospel message and to realise that the path to God is through a relationship with you. May this transform the way they think, behave and love one another. Amen.
Final Quote
The gospel is not that we amass a good record, give it to God, and then he saves us. Instead , the gospel is that Jesus Christ has amassed a perfect record and when we believe in him, he gives it to us.
He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died in our place, so that when we believe, our sins are pardoned and we are “counted righteous in his sight”. Then we are completely accepted and loved by the only One in the universe whose opinions really count.
Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage, p69
If you have an iPhone…
I’ve just discovered a great app. It’s called PrayerMate and it helps you organise your prayer life. I’m a great believer in spontaneous prayer but there are some things and people that I need to pray for regularly and I easily forget. This app helps address this. Whilst it doesn’t pray for you it does help you ensure that what you decide is important you prayer about.
