The Road Less Traveled & Two Forks

There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.  Blaise Pascal

I was driving to work this morning and a thought popped into my head.  “The Road Less Traveled”.  As will often happen when I allow my mind to wander out on its own, this thought came up.  I then started thinking about it in the context of Christianity. 

We often don’t want to take the road that is less traveled.  If we come to the fork in the road and we see one side that has no grass and the other is lush and green where no footsteps have walked, we come to the conclusion that the beaten path must have something interesting at the end.  Why else would it be beaten down?

Christianity is very much like that untraveled road.  If you have been on your Christian journey for very long, you begin to understand that Satan is a force to be reckoned with.  He can throw more boulders, landslides and all around chaos into our path the more we try to be like Christ.  If you look at it from a simplistic standpoint, it is easier to take the trodden road. Sometimes we want the easy way.  It reminds me of Staples and the Easy Button.

 

Sin is easy.  Have you noticed that when you sin the next time the opportunity comes up to sin again, it gets easier?  Once it gets easier we convince ourselves that it’s ok to do it again and again. The odd thing is that Satan is celebrating victory.  Why would he throw out roadblocks when he has us where he wants us to be?  In the midst of sin.  Maybe that is why the grass is trodden because there are two people on it.

The other fork in the road is not so easy.  Why is it that way?  Because Satan wants us to fail and when we choose to be more like Christ and decide to take that fork in the road, I promise you that Satan is on that road making it harder for you to be Christlike.  He throws in doubt, discouragement, disappointment and any number of other things to make us give up or throw in the towel. 

There are two forks in the road of life.  One leads to an eternity in heaven where there will be no pain.  A home has been prepared for us in a glorious place.  The second fork brings heartache, sorrow and pain.  When we begin to doubt God’s goodness and His best for us, we are taking the wrong fork.  Which fork will you choose? 

      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I understand that taking the road less traveled can lead to hardship, sorrow and pain.  It means that I will be called to give up the sinful things in my life and follow You.  What may seem fun and exciting in this earthly life is often my downfall.  Help me to always follow You, even when I don’t understand it.  I will cling to You when the road less traveled gets rough because I know You are with me.  

Scripture: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20