The Path Less Traveled 1/16/2013

 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."  Matt 7:13-14

No one ever said that living the Christian life would be easy.  In fact, if one were to follow conventional wisdom, it is well understood that nothing worth having is.  In this day and age (and perhaps all days and ages) many of us want to eat our cake and yet still have it.  We want all of the rights and privileges of heaven but all of the tastes, touches and smells of the world and the restrictions of neither, particularly the heavenly.

Beloved, following Christ is a choice.  God Himself gave us that choice and we exercise it every day.  We are easily lulled into thinking that we can have it both ways, primarily because God is long suffering with us and does not always (or often for that matter) cause us to pay the price for wrong choices immediately.  A toe in dark water becomes a shin, a thigh, a torso and ultimately the whole body.  That is an excellent way to drown which can be avoided all together by staying on dry land.

Walking by faith involves taking God at His word.  It means that we believe his heavenly and everlasting promises.  But it also means believing that they are inextricable from His warnings about making the wrong choices.  Walking with God and walking with the crowd are two entirely different things.  Let us remember that trouble and destruction are very easy to find and readily available.  Glory, however, is worth the search along the barely trodden path.

Committed,

Lee

Keep to the Path 8/2/201

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matt 7:13-14

The Lord never promised that following him would be easy, picturesque or a smooth path lined with flowers. He never said there would not be bumps in the road, storms or threats. He never said that you would not stumble. And he never said that the journey would not sometimes seem lonely. In fact, he said that the path would sometimes be arduous. Speaking to us as citizens of heaven rather than that of the world, he said, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you." John 15:19

Beloved, this does not sound like a very good ad campaign for Christianity, but it is an honest one. If a person can accept this then it is certainly worth knowing that it is a path that leads to everlasting joy. It is a path that we will never walk alone because he is ever with us. If and when we stumble, he will be there to pick us up, dust us off and encourage us along the way. The eternally fantastic news is that on the other side of the gate is where we will see God. Let us choose the correct path, discipline ourselves to remain upon it and persevere through all obstacles to make to the journey's end. Nothing will ever be more rewarding.

Rejoicing in the Lord,

Lee