The Path We Choose

Everyone has their journey, but there is only one path to God.  Though mankind conjures up cynicism as a means to attain justification for their sins, a rude awakening awaits them just around the corner if they continue to spurn God’s love and continue on this path of destruction. 

Many individuals are traveling in their own strength and rely upon good works to make their trip on earth satisfactory to our Creator when they finish the race-of-life, expecting acceptance from God in the here-after.  This is not God’s plan at all.  The Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God. 

There are wonderful folks everywhere that abide by the laws of the land and treat their neighbors as they themselves want to be treated, but false teachings have obscured the truth of God to the point that they believe their good deeds and self-righteousness are enough to get them into heaven.  These are counterfeits for the purity of Christ that Satan would have us believe.

Believing this lie will ultimately separate a person from the presence of God when they pass from this life.  They must accept Jesus Christ as the only propitiation for sins committed.  There is no other way.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

(Acts 4:12)  “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Man’s teaching and philosophy spits in the face of God.  Humanity, since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, is wicked and self-absorbed, needing a Savior.  They willfully try to stamp out and nullify God’s love by setting themselves on the thrown and putting Him under it. 

God gave His only Begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins…a free gift to humanity in order to restore the bond between Him and us. 

Disregarding God’s Word does not change His plan one iota.  God will not allow any person to substitute their unrighteousness in an attempt to negate the true righteousness of Jesus. 

The Lord’s death and resurrection stands unmovable in the face of false teachings that man contrives as truth.  When they try to replace the deity and sovereignty of Christ with heresy, the Holy Spirit lifts up a standard against it.  God has the last say.

Jesus paid the full price for the sins of mankind.  No other person on earth, now or ever, is holy enough to satisfy God for the forgiveness of sin.  Only the blood of Jesus can do this.  It cleanses sinners from the darkness of wrongdoing and makes them pure as the driven snow.

2 Corinthians 5:17)  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

I can understand why people choose not to talk about the not-so-popular subject matter of dying.  They lack peace of mind that all is well with their soul—fearing the unknown.  They would rather sip their latte or something stronger and talk about everything else under the sun except meeting their maker.

They skirt the issue in conversation and hide from its finality—the inevitable.  A person that cringes from the subject and refuses to think or talk about it does not negate the inevitable from happening. 

Two things are sure in life, taxes and dying.  They are a part of living that there is no getting around.  Trying to hide from the reality of death by sticking our head in the sand will not change the end results, but the choice we make, while breath is still in our lungs, changes the final destination of where our soul spends eternity. 

I remember in my teens and mid-twenties avoiding the subject all together.  I knew where I was headed and it scared me.  Rather than facing distasteful thoughts, I blocked them by cramming these unwanted reminders of death in the far reaches of my subconscious, but it was a feeble attempt to hide from the inevitable.  The terror of the unavoidable always found its way out, usually when I tried to sleep at night.

The path we choose with Christ provides peace of mind that where He is in heaven, there we will be also.  The opposite is true when we choose to reject God’s free gift of salvation and go our own way.

The choice is ours to make; our destiny depends on it.  God does not choose for us and no one else can make the choice by proxy.  We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  He paid the full price for sin for every living person.  We need only to accept Him as Lord.

(Romans 10:9)  “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Satan provides so much negative connotation in the world that it would fill a fleet of garbage trucks a hundred fold…too many voices saying, “Take this path.”

(Matthew 7:13-14)  “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”  Vs.14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

You will find the older you get, the faster the years seem to go by.  It is amazing how quickly time passes.  I wondered if 21 would ever get here, but then shortly thereafter the fast, forward button was pushed and behold I was transported to my twilight years in the blink of an eye.

(Psalm 144:4)  “Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.” 

I thank God for each day He gives me to spend time with my soul-mate, children and wonderful grandchildren.  I no longer fear where my soul will end up like I once did, because I gave my heart to the Lord.  Peace that is hard to explain now permeates my thought process. 

Because of the path I chose, no longer do I cry at nights fearing to close my eyes and sleep, because I have hope in the promise of God that heaven is my home…forever.  The hope and peace He gave me, He will do for you.  God is no respecter of person.  He loves you and wants to free you from the bondage that besets you.

(John 14:27)  “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Written by,

Papa Boyd