2011-09-02 - This Things Called Life

Part 2

The Wide Path

The path is wide because it basically consists of everything that’s not part of the other path The world is full of wiggle room. It loves to compromise. In Genesis 13-19, we read about the bad decisions Lot made when he and Abram decided to part ways. Given the pick of the land, Lot chose the best ground for himself, and then settled near a city known for its wickedness. The book of Judges records many of the bad choices of Samson.

On the wide path these bad choices just keep piling up and become a bad choice string – one choice that leads to another to another, etcetera. For example, let's say you decide it is okay to hug, kiss and get all touchy. Then it's okay to have sex. Then it's okay to have abortion… One bad choice after another; the bad decisions keep mounting. You simply can’t dig your way out of a hole. For adults let's take another example: you decide it's okay to take money from petty cash as long as you put it back later, then you decide no one has noticed so far so you'll do it later, then you take more with no intentions of putting it back. Finally you fall into the pit of making many more bad choices just to cover it up.

Proverbs 11:19 - As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.

The Narrow Path

Car racing legend Bobby Unser faced the toughest race of his life -- and won. He and a friend, Robert Gayton, were snowmobiling in New Mexico when both of their sleds quit working. Snowdrifts as high as their chests, temperatures as low as zero, and winds as stiff as 70 mph hampered their attempt to find shelter. They even had to spend one night in a snow cave they made. Late the next day they found a barn with a heater and a phone. After the rescue, Unser said, "Every decision we made had to be right." He and his friend had experienced a terrifying struggle with the elements they couldn't control as they did everything possible to stay alive. Miraculously, they stayed on a narrow path of survival.

Colossians 3:17 - And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

The narrow path is tricky. Decisions must be made that are hard because this is not our world – it is a world of evil. Satan is in charge. Every day we go up against forces that could destroy us. Some are internal – our pride and selfish desires. Some are external forces – ungodly media influences, friends, acquaintances, and perhaps family who don't support your faith, or just the stresses of life.

Wrong decisions as we face these "blizzards" can lead to destruction. Every move we make, each word and action, must be done in Jesus' name. (Remember Colossians 3:17) We must live according to God's principles and act as we think Jesus would. That will make every move count.

There are two paths the good and righteous path and the bad and evil path. In Mere Christianity C.S Lewis wrote something about choices that really just grabs hold of me each time I read it. Her is what he wrote: "People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, 'If you keep a lot of rules I'll reward you, and if you don't I'll do the other thing.' I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that… [now here's the good part – the part that just really registered with me] …every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other."

Right now there's time to change the road you're on. This narrow one that Jesus talks about is the one less traveled. And choosing that path makes all the difference.

IHFHBOH
Adam

acdum@hotmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org

All scripture references from KJV unless otherwise noted