Ways
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. (Prov. 14:12 NIV)"
One of the parts of following Jesus that calls for constant awareness and discernment is the discovery of ways. There is a way about everything, and nothing can be done without a way of doing it. For those who have been baptized the Way is Jesus Christ; but saying, "Jesus is the Way" has become a truth and not a path. Many believe it, but only as a spiritual truth not, not as a way in which we can walk now.
So we think Jesus as the way (way to Heaven, in most cases) is a spiritual truth that will affect our lives then, but we are still engaged in other ways. We have to be, because nobody can get along in life without a way. So what many of us do is sprinkle the way we choose with a little bit of morality, and say that that is the distinguishing factor in our lives, and the thing that marks us out as Christians. For example, at our jobs we may do everything exactly the same, but since we do not cuss we view that as our being "set apart."
That is weak.
Choosing any way we want that seems good and sprinkling it with morality is like putting a fake mane on a kitty cat, and calling it a lion. It is self deception, and so lame. But that is exactly what many Christians (including myself, at times) do after baptism. We continue on a way and sprinkle Jesus on it instead of hopping off of our old way and landing squarely onto The Way. When we want church growth, we use a certain way. More money? We find another way. Often these ways are not from Jesus but from the world.
In Eugene Peterson's The Jesus Way he describes the predominant way of the world as "Getting things done." This way places the means (anything that will help achieve the goal) below the end (the goal). So there are strategies and plans and books that have been written as a guide for others who are on this way who also want to "get things done." Unfortunately followers of Christ find themselves conflicted when we try living in this way in the name of Jesus.
Peterson says, "The one positive thing that can be said for the ways and means approved and rewarded in this world is that they work, sometimes magnificently, in achieving grandly conceived ends. Wars are fought and won, wealth is accumulated, elections are won, victories posted. But the means by which those ends are achieved leaves a lot to be desired. In the process a lot of people are killed, a lot of people impoverished, a lot of marriages destroyed, a lot of children abandoned, a lot of congregations defrauded."
A very simple example of getting things done is the new U-scan cashier machines. This new technology is aimed at making the customer's checkout quicker, and more convenient; but it has also led to job loss since the cashier is no longer "necessary." So the technology conveniences the consumer, inconveniences the worker (and family) who is now jobless, saves money for the corporation, and creates higher profits at the end of the day.
Things? Done. Mission accomplished.
I wonder if consideration was ever given to the people who would lose their jobs? Probably so. But things had to get done, and done they were.
The Jesus way is different. It is a longer way, and it might not bring immediate earthly success (if any), but it considers people as useful, not dispensable. The Jesus way sees all people as being created in God's image, therefore imporant. The baptized can no longer sprinkle any way we like with morality and think that as long as we believe in Jesus we are on the Way. No, we have to really get on the Way. It is counter-cultural, it is harder, but it is always a way that leads to God's kingdom.
The way that seems right to people will lead to death. It may not seem apparent now, but our lust for power, sex, pride, prestige, and the rest of the stuff that moves the world to "get things done" will land in a heap of smoke and ash.
A cursory reading of Revelation 18 tells the story of how the mighty city, Babylon, was (and will be) utterly destroyed in one hour. It talks about how the ruins of the destruction will be littered with bronze and wood, iron and maple, silk, scarlet, and all other things that God has given us to enjoy. But in the world's lust of these things people began to use and misuse resources and people to get more. That is the way of Babylon; more, more, more. The dreadful part of this reading is found and the very end when it says that there were "slaves," i.e. humans, among the ruins.
In the ways of Babylon humans are a means for attaining things. This type of way prevails in our day. We just have to look for it and choose the way of Jesus instead. This way seems right because it has produced a myriad of success stories. But the end of this way has been prophesied, so has the end of Jesus' way.