Walking With the Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness…” John 1:1-2, 14, 16

If someone asked me to tell them how I met my best friends or how I knew them I would begin with the day I first saw them as a teenager.  From there I would talk about what we said when we first spoke and what we experienced together over the course of our time of fellowship.

Many scholars believe that John was a teenager when he met Jesus.  They spent every day together from that point over the course of 3 years.  They shared joy and sadness, laughter and tears, miracles and moments of tenderness.  Many years after the death of John’s best friend, mentor and teacher, we can only assume that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write his account of walking with Jesus.  He did not begin his writings with the day he met Jesus.  He began his writing by establishing the truth that Jesus was with God before the beginning of time, Jesus was God and Jesus was the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among man.  John clearly believed that Jesus was the complete and full Word in the flesh.  Once he established the fullness of the Word he began his account of spending time with Jesus.  As an old man looking back, John must have felt tenderness in his heart as he reminisced about walking alongside the Word. 

One incident was documented in Luke that shows how courageous Jesus had to be.  Jesus was among his own people in his own town when He stated that He was the fulfillment of the Son of God sent to save humanity.  ‘All the people…were furious…and drove him out…and took him to the brow of the hill…to throw him off the cliff.  But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.’ Luke 4:29-30. 

It struck me this morning that not much has changed in our time on the spiritual calendar.  There are times in each of our lives when we have driven the Word to the edge of our desires to avoid conviction.  There are certain parts of the Word that our society wishes to throw off the cliff pretending it never existed.  But they were unable to throw the Word off the cliff, and we are unable to dismiss the Word.  He stood on the truth of God’s message then, and the Word still stands on the truth of God’s message now.  He walked out truth in the fullness of God and we can also walk out His fullness when we have a living relationship with Him. 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8