The Path

 As a teen, I spent a lot of time in the neighborhood of friends who lived a couple of miles away from me. Returning home, often at night, it was much quicker to journey through the woods. In these woods was a pathway that led almost directly to my house. It was so distinct and became so familiar that no matter how dark the night may have been, I was able to keep to it. It was a good path. I always made it home.

We are still in need of pathways. We need to make it home. Doing so means we have to stay on the path. His path. Jesus proclaimed, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes unto the Father but through Me." He is the Path, the Way of and to Life. His Life. Eternal Life. David, writing in Psalm 16:11 says, "You have made known to me the path of life." We will never lack for "paths" to choose from. Many will look like excellent ways to go. Wide, clear, yet after a bit we run into great obstacles, heavy brush, or the path simply ends. We find ourselves in a place that we don't know how to get back from. The path, so clear at first, now seems to have disappeared as we try to find a way forward, or try to retrace our steps. We're lost. Yet, this would not have been so if we had truly sought the Guide, the Path that David speaks of. Scripture says that there is a way that "seems right" to a man, but "its end is death." I spent many years on that path. Then I encountered Him, His Way, and His Life. He made known to me His path of life. Has He been able to make that path known to you?

Our lives consist of choices. Choices in our realationships and how we treat those in them. Choices as to who we will follow and who it is that has authority, Lordship, over our lives. Bob Dylan wrote the song, "Got To Serve Someone," and we do. The path we choose has a ruler over it. Who rules the path you walk today?

What path are you walking today? Is it leading to life? Is it taking you closer to Him or further from Him? He'll keep His promise to make known to us, to you, the Path of Life...if we wish to really know it. Do you? That path, if we will choose it, will always end up looking like Jesus. Leading to Jesus. Always be Jesus. There will be hard places and heartaches. It will sometimes seem that you walk it alone, that no one knows you're there. Keep following. The path will lead you home....to life and to Him.

I spoke of a path I walked as a young man. A young man filled with anger and rebellion. I remember a dark, moonless night where, after consuming a goodly portion of alcohol, I was rendered nearly helpless. I'd become separated from my friends, but somehow, found my way to the path. I don't remember much about that night, but I do remember finding the path. I stumbled along, even fell down. I don't no how long it took, but it led me home. In spite of myself, it led me home. It always will. He always will.

Beloved, in this new year, which path will you keep to? Where has the one you've been on been leading you to? What has it been leading you to? If you will seek Him, He'll make known to you the path of life. Seek Him. Trust Him. Follow Him. He will get you home. He will be your home.

Blessings,
Pastor O