Which Way?
CMS missionary Rebekah is serving the Lord in South East Asia. After the experience of getting lost in her neighbourhood and having to ask for directions, she reflects on how the spiritually lost can look to Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. She also shares a simple gospel presentation she learnt in language class.
“Where to?”
I wound my way up the steps between the buildings. Sweat dripped down my back from the afternoon humidity and the level of exertion, and I blindly followed the next open laneway that I found. I stopped at the junction and peered briefly into someone’s yard, before turning towards the overshadowed and narrow path that lead in the other direction.
“Where to?” an older fellow asked.
“Up”, I replied.
He nodded acknowledging this as a sufficient explanation for the random stranger climbing the back stairs in the neighbourhood.
Whether winding through narrow back lanes or out on a main road, asking for directions or being asked, “where from?” or “where to?” is a common experience here. This is both because these questions often function as polite greetings, rather than questions requiring detailed answers, and it is also because I commonly find myself needing directions.
So who do you ask for directions?
Willing to follow a new way?
We sat in my neighbour’s lounge room chatting. She had invited me in as I came home from school, in her usual hospitable manner. It was nice to sit and chat casually, even if it was a little dark despite it being noon. We chatted about our plans to go for an early morning walk before joining a group in the park.
I knew the location of the park, but I curiously asked, “so, there’s a way through to the park without taking the main road?” My friend replied, “yes, but I don’t know it. I’d only go that way if I was following someone who already knew it.” She has grown up in this community her whole life but protested that she wasn’t brave enough to try and find the way alone. This, in contrast to me, who the day before was wandering accidentally into someone’s yard because I’d taken a wrong turn in a back lane and needed to ask directions. I risked embarrassment, risked getting lost, risked meandering off the known path simply to see if it was possible. Is this the difference between wisdom and being foolhardy? Or the difference between innovation and tradition? Or was it courage and lack thereof, as she suggested?
Certainly, a willingness to strike out alone contrasts with a desire to only follow a trusted guide, but by both methods you can follow a new way.
Which is God’s way?
In our language class last week, we discussed asking for directions, because a local pastor had proposed a memory aid using the five fingers on your hand.
- The thumb reminds us of God, who is good and true.
- The pinky reminds us of humans, who are far from God.
- The pointer reminds us of asking for directions, which way? How can humanity come close to God?
- The tall finger reminds us of Jesus’s strength to open the way between God and humans. Jesus is the true way, the narrow way, the only way.
- The ring finger reminds us of the love of God for us and the good life of love that humans are to live following God’s way.
You can find the metaphor of being lost, needing a way to be opened, and needing a guide in various places in Scripture.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
I look forward to thinking more about this metaphor and how it connects with people here: their experiences, their bodies, and their own culture’s respected texts.
PRAY
PRAYPray that the spiritually lost in South East Asia would look to Jesus as the way, truth, and life. Pray that Rebekah would keep her eyes fixed on Jesus for direction and guidance.
