Proper Pathways
We don’t seem to think of pathways much anymore. It used to be that one walked a path to get from one point to another. Many of these have been replaced with roadways and highways as the preferred mode of travel is no longer walking. But it is important to remember that in whatever way we travel or convey ourselves from one place to another we are walking a path as we continue through this life.
God spoke to the prophets through His Spirit to warn His people so they might always strive to walk the path that leads to God. Sadly, some of God’s people refuse to remain on the right path. In Jeremiah 6:16 we find the inspired directive to God’s people of that time and their refusal to walk the path God had chosen for them. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Even today there are those that are supposed to be God’s people that no longer desire the “old paths”, or the “good way” in which to walk, and yet they still want rest for their souls.
Perhaps today, folks should look to the example of those of Jeremiah’s day and see what happened to them because they refused to walk the proper path. We see in Jeremiah 18:15-16 that they were to become a shame and a reproach. Notice that these folks made the choice wherein they would walk and therefore chose to be a reproach to God. Let us not be so today. Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; 16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. Being a disgrace to God will not result in one being with Him for eternity. None desires this for himself.
Proverbs 14:12 advises that, just because a path seems to be right, doesn’t mean it is. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. This perhaps was the idea my father in-Law, O.D. Wilson had when he penned the words to a song he wrote. He pointed out in this song that there are Three Highways one might travel. I have copied the three verses and the chorus below and perhaps these words might help to choose the proper pathways. This song can be sung to the tune of “There’s A Garden” by J.H. Filmore and is entitled:
THREE HIGHWAYS TO ETERNITY
(1)
Are you walking the highway that seems right?
There is sorrow and death at the end.
Is your conscience considered a safe guide?
Do you offer this way to your friends?
(2)
There’s a beautiful broad highway leading,
In destruction it pays off some day.
The multitudes travel unheeding,
Any warnings we give on the way.
(3)
There’s another highway on the road map.
It is narrow, uncrowded and strait,
It’s the one of the three Jesus traveled.
It alone leads to where saved ones wait.
Chorus
Yes the conscience approval the Lord may reject,
It deceived Eve and Adam that day.
At the end of this road, you’ll miss Heaven’s abode.
Only God’s Word is safe to obey.
As we travel the highways in our journeys and to and from work and such, we tend to choose carefully the routes we take. Of course there are multiple routes to many of the places to which we might travel here, but there is only one route or path that leads from earth to Heaven. As Jesus neared the end of the Sermon on the Mount He spoke to the multitudes in Matthew 7:13-14 and encouraged them to take the proper path. This requires that one stay off the forbidden paths the world offers. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
We cannot save you, but we can help guide you to the gate, path and the way that leads to Heaven. Choose your path carefully. Your soul’s eternal destination depends upon it.
Dennis S – Mooresville
