The Principle of the Path

Are you on a path in life? Do you have plans you would like to accomplish this year, next year or in the long term? Do you have ideas that will help you get there? Some people would say yes, they have goals, and they are working toward them. Others seem too just live day-to-day. No matter which way you approach the future, you are on a path; one you choose, or one life chooses for you.

My mother had a saying that has helped me through life. “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” I have learned to love that statement. Walking down that imaginary road, and coming to that proverbial fork in the road, you have two choices, each a path you choose. You can either take the fork to the left, or you can take the fork to the right. Life will not let you simply stand at the fork and not go forward. You will need to choose or get swept up in life’s flow.

There are choices we make every day, some big things, some little things. Whichever path we choose, that path will lead to another fork eventually. To me the principles we use to make the “fork in the road” decisions are what matter. Staying true to Biblical principles will guide you well.

For example, do we make good choices about what we eat or how much we exercise? Good choices and bad choices put you on a path to healthy living or not. What we do with our time? Investing it or wasting it are both paths we can choose. How we use our finances and other resources will be another fork in the road. Do we make Kingdom choices or are we just focused on what we want?

Matthew 7:13-14 to me is the clearest passage describing the fork in the road. ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

In John 10:7-9, Jesus tells us He is the gate. “⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”

The Spirit lead, Biblical principles are the narrow gate. Jesus told His disciples in John 16:7-13, just before He was crucified, “Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”

So, when you come to the proverbial fork in the road, turn to the Guide and He will guide you into all the truth. He will never lead you astray. His guidance is clear. When we cannot clearly see which path to take, remember our enemy is the master of confusion, not God. Remember, when standing at a fork in the road, Matthew 7:7-8 says, ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”