Day 3 - Following the Path

Just think, if we had not been given the Bible, we would have no way of telling where Jesus walked. We would have no way of tracing his steps. But, thank God, he has given us his Word. The open-to-all Bible way is his way, and therefore, by definition, is the only real true public-access path across the hills and valleys of this life.

The message to any walker in the heavenly kingdom on earth is this; the Word of God is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. Wherever you go, it will light your way home. There will never be a cloudy day black enough to block the bright beams of light from the Bible words to penetrate the darkness around you and shine brilliantly along your path.

If there does come a time when you lose sight of where Jesus might have stepped, pick up and open the Book of God; it will act as a lamp to show you where he put his feet.

Once, a long time ago one Winter's morning, a father went a long way through the deep snow to check on and feed his sheep. A few hours later his wife sent their small boy to call his father to come home.

At first the child set out to find his father by carefully stepping into the actual footprints that laid out in a line in front of him, but soon some dark clouds overtook him and driving snowflakes filled his eyes, so that he was constantly closing them against the storm and turning his back into the teeth of the gale to protect his face from the freezing, biting wind.

In taking care of himself, and trying to protect himself against the ravages of the storm, he frequently missed the footprints and stepped off the path.

In the kingdom we have no need to shut our eyes or turn our backs into life's oncoming gales. In the Bible's glacier clear light we can see the whole length of the way that Jesus trod. Walking that way, step for step, we can only walk as Jesus walked without leaving behind us a double track of footprints. You must appoint the Word of God to be your guide if you want to walk rightly along the path of life and be blessed in doing it.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16,17.

We can work our way forward into being thoroughly equipped for every good work, a place to which God calls all of us, when we receive instruction and training in righteousness by faith. That instruction is designed to make us holy in this life.

The lesson is clear and simple; if you want to know how to live, study the Bible. It clearly and plainly points out the way. Allow its graces and truths to reach the depths of your heart. Encourage your own soul to enter the Bible and drink its sweetness and strength, like the bee sipping the sweet pollen from the flower.

As an animal eats a plant and, by digesting it, converts it into animal life, so you should eat the Book of God and convert it into human life. Actually, rather than this process being the Bible undergoing conversion into our human life, it is better to see it as human life being transformed into the purity of the Bible.

The Bible has unfathomable depths to it. What may at first glance appear to be the simplest of texts contains depths which we can never reach.

So if you would like to live a holy life, you must set the life of Christ in front of you as it is pictured in Holy Scripture. You cannot see much of this holy life by throwing it a passing glance over your shoulder; only if you look deeply and longingly into the perfect law of liberty and go on looking at it will you see the perfect life which it pictures.

A painter artist will have to look long and hard at the landscape and get its details firmly imprinted on his mind before he can draw and paint it successfully on the canvas. The New Testament description of the life of Jesus ought to fill your heart with admiration and with an overwhelming desire to possess it for yourself. Your heart must hold on to it continuously until that life becomes focused and printed on your own soul. Come to think of it, this is very like the art of photography; the object must be set in front of the lens of your heart before the image can be captured.

Like a photographic projector, the Bible itself, and only itself, is the light that shines the image of Jesus onto our soul. For the pure in heart to develop into a state of higher spiritual life, we must so increase in our wonder at the beauty of the Christ-life that we will long to have his in-dwelling in greater fullness.

Our heart's plea will be, "Lord, let your beauty be my outer garment and my inner light."

Then your soul will chase after his holiness. This is the only way that your soul can unfold and develop into the higher Christian life.

Those of us who have not yet understood how to grow in grace have not yet learned how to live. When life's sun is sinking low on our horizon and we are getting close to heaven, we should be able to look back down the track and see nothing but a life spent in the service of God. If we have followed step into footstep there will be only one set of footprints. Then we will know that we have been walking in the light of his Word; this will surely produce in us a feeling of inexpressible peace.