“Heaven can be entered only through the narrow gate! The highway to hellis broad, and its gate is wide enough for all the multitudes who choose its easy way. But the Gateway to Life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14 The Living Bible)
You have a choice of what to do with this morning’s meditation. You can either follow through or forward to…to a person who really needs to recognize that they need to accept the responsibilities for those who are riding along with them on this highway called life.
Let me begin with a true story, or better stated, a true confession. When I was a young adult and my children were in elementary school, we were living in a time where wearing seat belts was not a legal requirement. I used to purposely drive down a country road to simulate the thrill of riding on a roller coaster as a form of entertainment for the kids, overlooking that the entertainment came with endangerment.
There were steep uphill places on that country road, and there were sudden, unseen downhill slopes that triggered the exact, same feeling that you have when the roller coaster amusement park ride suddenly comes to a place where the designed railing quickly descends, speedily dives downward at a pace that evokes loud screaming from the riders. I am glad that I can report a good ending to this bad choice adventure. We all were safe and sound. No one was ever hurt. It just had to be the grace and mercy of God. It was all fun for those who were riding along, but now I know that as a driver, I was putting my kids in danger, in more ways than one. God forgive me!
Like I said, that’s a true store, but now let’s look at how this ties in with the truth above. If you are a parent with children of any age, living in your house, you need to be careful not to take them on “rides,” manifested in your behaviors, that have worldly thrills, wrongful laughter, waning happiness, and which can ultimately lead to eternal death. I am speaking figuratively from a spiritual perspective and not literally. Look! As long as a child lives in your house, whether they are one or thirty-one or older, you still have the responsibility for taking them on a “ride” down the road that is flooded with safety, and it also that leads to eternal life. If you are already doing the latter as opposed to the former, continue to follow through. But you still have an assignment. The are some “drivers” who need this word. So, please, or should I say like the Apostle Paul, I beseech ye, to forward this to parents you know need this message, in an effort to keep them on the narrow path of righteousness, and as a side benefit, ensure that their children are on a safe ride on the road of life. Forward this to adults who have children in the home, and you know good and well that they are taking them on a “ride” where God is not exalted, His church is eliminated as an exact place that we should attend regularly, His word if entirely overlooked, and an extremely dangerous decline is just on the other side of the seemingly upward hills of thrills, and fun.
Jesus used the Judean, Grecco-Roman techniques of two kinds, more than once, in the seventh chapter of The Gospel According to Matthew. Therefore, I believe it is acceptable for me to use the same technique. I present you with two kinds of options; either follow through or forward to.
Let’s help make this world more precious in the sight of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Yes, Jesus is real! And His principles and prescriptions for living are solid as a rock that prevails through the ages. Have a wonderful, witnessing, working for the Lord Wednesday! Remember to either follow through or forward to! Be blessed!
“All who listen to my instructions and follow them are wise, like a man who builds his house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents, and the floods rise, and the storm winds beat against his house, it won’t collapse, for it is built on rock. But those who hear my instructions and ignore them are foolish, like a man who builds his house on sand. For when the rains and floods come, and storm winds beat against his house, it will fall with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27 The Living Bible)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King