There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

~Proverbs 14:12 NLT

The path seemed exactly right for me.

My grandmother’s house nestled itself just a short distance from my aunt’s home, both connected by a winding path well worn by an almost constant stream of foot traffic. I loved staying with my grandparents in their old farmhouse—sitting on their wrap-around porch, listening to the crickets after the sun settled in for the night. And I also loved visiting my aunt. Her youngest son trumped me by just three months, and we were good friends.

Many were the days when I’d trudge from my grandmother’s house to my cousin’s house so we could play together. We were country boys living in a period before technology had overrun kids’ imaginations. My feet helped further wear down a path already cut deep by relatives and friends. Every time I walked the path, a smile creased my face as I thought about the fun I would soon have with my cousin or the good meal I’d eat at my grandmother’s house. My cousin was a master of make-believe games, and my grandmother was a chef superb of low country South Carolina dishes.

The path between my grandparents’ and aunt’s house was a good path, but I’ve taken some paths that weren’t. Paths that led to bad decisions … or unhealthy relationships. Paths that took me further than I wanted to go … and took me longer to get back from than I cared for.

Solomon was right. A path does exist that appears right, but it doesn’t end where we want it to. Jesus spoke of the same kind of path hundreds of years later. He called them narrow and broad paths and said most people choose the broad path—the one that leads to destruction.

“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.”

~Matthew 7:13 NLT

The death Solomon speaks about and the destruction Jesus says the broad path leads to is spiritual death … eternal separation from a loving God who wants all people to have a relationship with Him. But traveling these paths also leads to death even while I’m living. The kind of death that brings a famine. I don’t enjoy life as God intends for me to experience.

Saying only one way to heaven exists may be politically incorrect, but that’s the message of the Bible. Believe in Jesus … or else. God has created no other way. Sin separates us from Him, but repentance brings us into a relationship with Him. And love prompts God to pursue us so we’ll bridge the gap.

Make sure the path you’re walking leads you to God.

What’s one way you can make sure you take the right paths in life?

Father God, thank You for making a path I can walk that leads me to You and to abundant life.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2021: The Right Path: Martin Wiles: All Rights Reserved