The Bible has many ways of describing the Christian’s walk through life, but I would like to compare it to something we are all well familiar with today. Paul often referred to the Christian life as a walk or race (Eph. 4-5), and Jesus compared us to branches on a vine and sheep in a flock. All of those things would be very familiar to the people that Paul and Jesus were addressing. One thing common to all of society today is the roads we travel on a daily basis. Let’s see some lessons we can learn from using that teaching method in today’s times.
1. “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life” (Matt. 7:14). Jesus teaches that there will be few who make it to heaven because of the challenges the Christian life will present. It clearly takes dedication and focus. Imagine you’re driving down the highway and come to a construction zone. You find that the lanes are being closed until you are crammed between two concrete barriers in a lane barely the width of your car forced to drive at 60 mph. What is demanded of us in a situation like that? Can we be careless and distracted by our surroundings? It takes focus. You have to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes squarely on the road. Lack of focus could cause you to swerve into one of the barriers. The Christian life is much the same way, except the Christian life is like driving between those concrete barriers all the time. We have chosen a roadway for our life that demands more effort than those who choose the easy way. The easy way is described as “the way that leads to destruction, there are many who go in by it” (Matt. 7:13).
2. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). We must remember that while we are driving down the highway of life, we are heading to the greatest destination ever. We are taking this road trip because of our love for God, and because we were “called according to His purpose”. The roadway of life will have many obstacles to overcome. We will drive through many storms during our life. There will be times we will have a “flat”, or the “car” breaks down. We will hit the many potholes and speed bumps of life that will slow us down. But, during all this we have the promise of Paul in the verse above. That promise states that if we love God, He will take all those obstacles and somehow turn them into something good that will later benefit us on our journey. Paul also reminds us that no matter how hard the drive may be, we have something much greater to look forward to. He said, “for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). The destination is definitely worth the drive!
3. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). There are times that we get lost as we try to find a certain destination. We may take a wrong turn or listen to some bad directions. The same applies to our Christian life. There may be times when we take a bad spiritual turn away from the Lord. John tells us in the verse above that God has given us a way to get back to the right road and direction. We can confess our sins to God, and He will forgive us. He has made it possible for us to get back on the correct route to make it to our destination. God is the ultimate “GPS” system, and He has given us the greatest road map ever in the Bible. -Ed
