“DD” THE JOURNEY
(The Gospel of John) I am a beacon of light to those who see me. I am a mirror to those who look for me. I am a door to those who knock on me. I am a Way for you, the traveler.
A journey of 1 mile starts with a single step - as does a journey of 100 miles, 1,000 miles, 1,000,000 miles. No destination is in reach straight out of the gate. No finish line is within your grasp once just stepping past the starting line.
The 44th president of the United States, said often, and I’m paraphrasing, my job as President is not to shift the course of the country entirely during my respective term/s, but at best, change the course of the country a few degrees, and over time those few degrees will turn into a large change bending towards the path of justice.
Whether you look at the journey of a single person, or the journey overtime of an entire country, either beginning point requires a direction chosen to travel, consciously or otherwise, before action begins.
Jesus, the embodiment of two characteristics of God we know as love and selflessness, is not only the starting point for knowing God, but a result as well. If you feel like a journey is awaiting you, you’ll need a light for the dark, a mirror to eventually see who you are during the journey, countless doors walked through, and a path to traverse which takes you to the destination. Jesus is saying you can use him for the entirety of it, the whole thing, the gift of life and also the desire to know what life is all about.
Another way to see the quote above is that Jesus is being quoted saying something very simple: follow me and do as I did. When you follow Jesus’s lead it doesn’t mean you have to conform to a particular religion or set of beliefs and dogmas. It means quite simply, do as I did…
1. Surrender your life over to the Creator.
2. Forgive everyone for everything, all the time, no matter what.
3. Love your neighbor as yourself, and God above all.
4. Serve God by serving mankind.
5. Choose God over the world everyday.
Rarely, does mankind choose to believe Jesus was here to be a pathway to God for the living, or else mankind would emulate his life and arrive at knowing God. Mostly, people choose to place Jesus on a pedestal and worship him, and then overcomplicate things by believing the Bible is the way to God and Jesus an unknowable representation of salvation post death.
Salvation is for the living as well, marked by heavenly experiences. You can know God by emulating Jesus, not because a religion says worship him, but because every journey needs a light, a mirror, unlocked doors, and a map to get where you hope to go.
Apathy and grief don’t exist in the life of the traveler who chooses to emulate Jesus, but they do in many who call themselves religious.