If you’re travelling this Christmas it’s quite possible that you’ll be using a sat nav/GPS navigation. Sat navs can be very helpful, but they’ve occasionally left people in a tight spot, literally! Lorries wedged down narrow lanes, delivery vans stuck up cart tracks etc. In 2013 a coach driver, who was taking thirty guests to a wedding in Wiltshire, UK, was directed by his sat nav down a country lane that was unsuitable for heavy vehicles. The driver needed somewhere to turn round, so he turned into a muddy field. Unfortunately the coach got stuck in the mud, and the guests had to be rescued by locals from the nearby village of East Hatch, who also drove them to the ceremony just in time for the arrival of the bride.

Two thousand years before sat navs were invented, some wise men from the Middle East followed a star on their journey to visit a newly born king. Unlike some sat navs, the star led them with pinpoint accuracy, eventually stopping directly above the house where the child was staying with his parents, Mary and Joseph.

Approximately thirty years later, on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus told His followers that He was returning to God His Father. Perplexed they complained that they couldn’t follow Him, because they didn’t know the way.

“Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” said Thomas.

But instead of giving Thomas directions to follow, Jesus said to him:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.”

John 14:5-6

In other words, the answer for anyone who wants to know God, their Creator, who wants to find forgiveness, acceptance and meaning, is not to follow a route or a set of man-made instructions, but to follow a person: Jesus, who made the journey from Heaven to Earth at that first Christmas to become one of us.

And later on, at Passover, it was His crucifixion and resurrection on our behalf that opened the way to eternal life for everyone who sincerely desires to follow Him.

Thank you for reading. May you discover just how much God loves you this Christmas, and may 2022 be a better year for us all!