I do not like people getting in my way, be it driving, walking through the grocery store, or even walking through my house. I get a little road rage in any instance. I just want to get around them. I’m sure you’re the same way. Now follow me and my imagination here in the book of Mark.
“Mark 10:32 KJV And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him,”
Now if you read it like I did, it says they were in the way. The disciples were in the way. Then Jesus went before them, like He had to push His way through. Then He had to take them and go over what was going to happen AGAIN. Later on they come across blind Bartimaeus.
“Mark 10:52 KJV And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”
He begins to cry out and even after being told to hush, he pressed on. He gets the healing he asked for, then Jesus tells him to go thy way. What does Bartimaeus do? It says that he follows Jesus in the way.
The disciples were just in the way. Bartimaeus, though, followed Jesus in “the way.” He was moving with purpose. He wasn’t slowing Jesus down.
So my question is, are you in “the way” or just in the way? Are you helping the kingdom by advancing it? Or, are you hindering the kingdom? Does your attitude bless others and point them towards Jesus? Or does your attitude make people think, “If that’s what being a Christian is all about, I want nothing to do with it.” Here’s a question. If you sit down at a restaurant and the wait staff seems to be having a hard night. Are you the table that takes a second to ask how they are doing? Do you tell them that you understand? Do you encourage them and greet them with a smile when they come to your table? Are you a breath of fresh air to them? Or do you gripe because service is slow? Do you scold them because they got your order wrong? Which of these do you think is in “the way” and which is just in the way?
Be in “the way.” Be an encourager, be the reason someone looks at Christians and say, “I want to be like that.” Be a reflection of Jesus.
John 14:6 KJV Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Psalm 139:23-24 KJV 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Excerpt from Something Else to Brew On
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