Which Path Are You On?

In St. Matthew’s Gospel, the seventh chapter, Jesus says,“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (7:13-14 NRSV).

Jesus seems to be saying that there are two roads one can travel in this life. The wrong road leads to destruction, and the right road leads to life. In addition, Jesus intimates that there are two groups who travel one road or the other. There are the many and there are the few; there is the majority and there is the minority. Jesus states that the majority travels the wide road to destruction, while the minority takes the narrow road leading to life. But how can we know? How can we be sure that we are on the right road, not to mention taking the wrong path?

In his poem entitled, The Ways, British poet John Oxenham once wrote:

To every man there openeth
a Way, and Ways and a Way,
and the High Soul climbs the High Way
and the Low Soul gropes the Low,
and in between, on the misty flats,
the rest drift to-and-fro.
But to every man there openeth
a High Way and a Low,
and every man decideth
The Way his soul shall go.

That is a great question isn’t it? Which way will your soul go? This coming Sunday I plan to share the fifth sermon in my current series Did You Get My Text? Decoding Some of the Most Misunderstood Stories in the Bible. And boy do we have a doozy this week!

In the Book of Numbers, chapter twenty-two, in the Old Testament, there is the story of the prophet Balaam and his talking donkey! Really! A talking donkey right there in the Bible. Take a few moments this week and read through this biblical text in preparation for this coming Lord’s Day.

Here’s a hint: this story is about more than an overly chatty little burro that stretches our imagination. Donkeys don’t talk. But God does. And there are many various and sundry ways that God employs as vehicles of communication. But sometimes we simply are not listening! Or perhaps we find it unbelievable. And that is when we may find ourselves on the wrong road. How many times have we simply ignored the Lord’s leading to go our own way? I can’t wait to share the message behind this story with you this Sunday as we listen together for God’s direction in our lives.

I trust that you had a nice Labor Day and are looking forward to all that God has for us in the months to come! I know I am.