Issue 764 – The Path – June 3, 2022
I love how this walking path along the Fraser River wanders in and out of the trees. The trees give the pathway a comforting presence.
There is a widespread misconception that the Christian way is a way of ease and constant earthly blessings. “Become a Christian,” they say, “and you will be healthy and wealthy beyond your wildest desires if you just have enough faith.”
That goes beyond a “misconception.” It’s an outright lie, straight from the pit of hell and smelling like smoke.
Can God make you healthy and wealthy, successful by all earthly measures? Of course, He can. Is that His plan for most people? No!
God is more concerned about our holiness than fulfilling the desires of our flesh. Believers receive blessing upon blessing, and our final blessings in glory will outstrip even our wildest dreams.
The pathway, the holiness road, is narrow.
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Mathew 7:13-14
Our faith walk comes complete with trials and tribulations, which should be no surprise. It tells us that in the owner’s manual.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10
The same manual tells us that such things are designed to make us more like Jesus.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5
Believers have peace with God; that is a blessing beyond measure.
I will confess that that passage is one of the most highly contested verses in Scripture by translation experts. Do we have “peace WITH God,” or do we have “the peace OF God”? Either way, we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams. Peace with God leads to the peace of God and vice versa.
We might not ever get that mansion, Rolls Royce or private jet. We might still struggle with health and other issues. We will fight ongoing battles with our sin nature, and people will reject us because of our faith. What we gain is infinitely better than all those things combined.
The narrow gate and path lead us to immeasurable, eternal blessings. Our sins are forgiven, and we are being shaped into the image of our Lord. That astounds me. It is no wonder the Psalmist can declare
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. Psalm 8:3-8
When you are tempted to step off the narrow way and wander the broad highway that leads to destruction, remember that Jesus walks the narrow way with you. You walk the broad path alone and at your own peril.
Hold fast, my friends. The narrow way is harder, but you walk it with the Lord, and the outcome is far better.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed.
Kevin.
Gleanings From The Word.
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV). Spelling modified to Canadian English as required.
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