Imagine for a minute that you’re on a road trip. The car is packed, reservations are made, and you’re sipping a delectable mocha latte as the miles drift by. An hour passes when you finally come across a destination road sign to show your progress. As the sign shoots by, it’s then to your heart stops because the billboard shows that you are going in completely the wrong direction—that unless you turn around, you’ll never arrive at your pre-determined location.
Most of us have sat in an automobile, whether as a driver or passenger, and most of us have occasionally gotten lost and traveled the wrong way. Have you ever thought of your life as an open highway? Have you ever wondered if the path you travel is the right one—a route that leads towards your ultimate destination and not one plagued with bad weather, or fraught with high prices and horribly bad food?
Did you know that the road to hell is wide and the way to heaven is narrow? Think carefully about this as you read these two verses in the book of Matthew.
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:13,14 NLT)
Simply put, we can go through life and travel the abundance of wide roads and highways that lead us down harmful back alleys and threaten our peace and joy and eternal security. It’s easy to get lost and unless we ask for directions, we stay lost and struggle to get our lives back on track. The alternative is that we can humble ourselves, lower our pride and seek council from one who knows the road map for our lives better than anyone. We can choose the often difficult and narrow path through Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our lives, or we can stay on the wide pot-hole riddled path that leads to eternal damnation and hell.
I remember the days before GPS and Google Maps, where the only way to successfully navigate was with an old-school paper fold-out map. And if you didn’t pre-plan your route, the open map on your lap was not only challenging, but it was also dangerous. That was the previous definition of distracted driving! Not sure about you, but I far prefer to have the Lord as my navigator through life.
Jesus says this: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had already known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” (John 14: 6,7 NLT)
Jesus is the only WAY. He speaks the undisputable TRUTH and he alone is the LIFE. So, as you go through each day, I urge you to let Jesus guide your path and keep you on track while traversing down the narrow path that leads us towards eternity.
It’s a gateway to life that you will never regret while on the road less traveled.
Paul Smyth
(To be published June 20, 2024)
