Followers of the Way

“Faith without works is dead”1. “Saved by faith… not through works”2. So which is it? Can both be true? It depends on the meaning that you put on the word “works”. The Bible tells us to believe, but notes that even demons believe, yet we don’t have to worry about a demon moving in next door in Heaven.

It is easier to understand if, instead of works, we think of it instead as action. The action that Jesus expects of us is not necessarily to build a church, to go to seminary, to evangelize in the streets. Indeed it is nothing that we conceive of on our own.

Think of the role of the shepherd and the sheep. In John 10:27 Jesus says “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”. The thing that we MUST do that demons won’t is to follow Jesus. Following is the action that Jesus expects of us. This will lead us away from the desires of our own hearts to the desires of His. It may include building or evangelizing – but it will be His direction and not be limited to our own understanding. Is it easy? YES! Sheep are not brilliant animals. Indeed those that seemingly have a mind of their own are the hardest to shepherd.

Jesus says “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” It’s easy to believe that He is the Truth and the Life because that is a passive acknowledgment. Accepting that He is the Way must be an active acceptance. In accepting this we must follow Him. It is no accident that the early church was known as the “Followers of the Way” – not the Sitters in the Pews, nor the Keepers of the Rules. In order to follow Him, we must listen to Him – not model our behavior or actions on the other sheep. Test what you hear against the instruction manual He left for you – the Bible. Relying on the bleaters around you may have you following a fellow member of the flock whose ultimate destiny is lamb chops rather than Heaven.

1 James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

2 Ephesions 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hello and Welcome!

There is a certain presumption in writing a blog. An arrogance perhaps in believing that you have something to say and that anyone else has an interest in reading it. I confess to having a reluctance to share my thoughts, as the process is more self-revelatory than I normally choose or am able to be in face-to-face relationships. There is an anonymity in being online, as even as you may become familiar with me I am unaware of the incursion. Certainly I have other interests, topics that interest me, opinions that I’m confident are right. However I feel a calling to share on the topic of faith that I do not feel regarding any other topic. I have resisted for some time, but the calling has persisted.  I was once told by a judge that I had a “gift for the obvious”. So in that context, please forgive any lack of depth or superficiality in my walk of faith. The question of who I am is an incomplete inquiry. Like a news story, the question and the answer must reveal who, what, when, where, and how. That being said, let me proceed with what may seem on some level an obituary, as it captures a snapshot of myself in time, accentuating the positive and minimizing, if not eliminating, the negative.

My name is Warren Smith. I’m 61 years old1, a native of San Diego who has recently retired after 32 years with the San Diego courts to the high desert community of Hemet, California.  My life has been one of challenges and opportunities, blessings and cursings, and through it all I am grateful to the Lord for His faithfulness to me. I attended Berean Bible College for two years prior to marrying the love of my life. The Lord blessed us with three children, but our marriage sadly ended after 25 years. As with all things in my life, I believe this was purposed by God and I daily seek His guidance and will in walking rightly after Him. Like my father before me and my son after me, I live my life on the spectrum. By this I mean that autism, a spectrum disorder, has been a part of each of our lives. This manifests in me as strong tendencies toward obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette’s syndrome. This doesn’t mean that I blurt out obscenities in meetings (tempted though I’ve been), but rather that when a thought pops into my head there is a compulsion, sometimes irresistible (especially if it is funny), to express it. Sadly, this is often regardless of the appropriateness or the political correctness of the interjection.  Hence the prudence in a blog rather than a podcast.

In naming this blog, I have drawn from David’s Psalm 63. Not simply because I am in physically in the high desert where the temperature has been in excess of 100 degrees for 5 of the last 7 days, but because we of God are all in a dry and thirsty land where all souls are thirsting for living water. In the creation of this blog I was required to create a user ID and for this I have chosen Desertvessel. As a Christian, as a parent, and as a person I am deeply flawed. Yet as I learn more of myself in my faith journey, I am constantly buoyed by a loving God who is faithfully performing an ongoing work of creation. With the Lord’s mercy he reveals to my heart and mind each day affirmations of His faithfulness and love. As he fills my cracked vessel He has put it on my heart to share the spillage that overflows and seeps from the cracks.

Although I feel called to the ministry, it is not to pastor or evangelize. I don’t possess those gifts and my unclean hands would cause non-believers to blaspheme were I to seek them. Instead the Lord has put it on my heart to provide a ministry of helps – to share with those who are also following Jesus. My hope and my prayer is that I might be a resource to those who are gifted far beyond me. For that reason, as I share poems and songs that have been placed on my heart I give them freely to those who might make use of them to further the cause of Christ. It is my continual prayer that I might sow, that others may harvest.

Yours in Christ,

Warren  

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.