In Psalm 119:35 the Psalmist wrote "Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight." As I look back on the path of my life I see many crooked paths that took a lot longer to get somewhere and that was because some of those paths I took on my own. Oh they winded around here and there and everywhere, when they could have been a very straight path to the next destination. At times I would let valleys, when I went through them, get me confused as to where I was, and get me off task and off route for where God wanted me to go. Those valleys were meant to get me to look up and get more of God's directions and less of mine so I would move in the right direction. Oh, there have also been plenty of times when I moved directly where I needed to go, via God's straightforward directions and avoided all the walking around aimlessly. Boy that was a lot easier!!
What does the path of your life look like. A straight and narrow path, or a crooked, disjointed one? Of course, I can reason it out by saying, "If I had not gone down that crooked path, I would not have experienced the circumstances that developed my walk and faith in God." Really? Sometimes I just make bone headed choices that get me totally off track and sure, God will bail me out, but I shouldn't have gone that way anyway! Discernment is a huge plus in our walk with the Lord, but it takes us being in tune with God and the Holy Spirit.
For me it is the difference between the narrow gate and the wide gate. In Matthew 7:13 Jesus was teaching His disciples and He said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it." If we will narrow our focus and let that focus be on Jesus and His way we will begin to see things starting to open up in our life and make us much more productive in our walk. Very directional.... In Hebrews 12 2 the writer says "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." Eyes on Jesus + walking forward with His instruction = Straight and narrow. Think about it this way. Picture a funnel. Normal usage of a funnel would be to start at the big end and it gets smaller to the other end. Turn the funnel around. Start at the small end and then see what happens. It opens up to a much wider end. If we center our lives on following Jesus' instructions in the straight and narrow, we will see a new life open up before us that widens our influence, or direction, and our results. The key is "fixing our eyes on Jesus!" The Message Bible translates the Psalm 119:35 scripture like this; "Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway!"
So, victorious living dictates that our life should be fixed on Jesus, content to follow His commands and narrow down our path, and move totally in His direction. That means more straight roads and less crooked paths. That falls in line with Paul's instruction in Ephesians 5:16 "Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!!"
Keep from letting life slip by and keep your eyes on Jesus and you will live a much more efficient, effective life that opens up to new and exciting challenges every day. The straight and narrow path is best!!
The Pilgrimage continues...
David Warren
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