Which Way?

Download the entire November 2008 issue of the Water of Life.

Have you ever found yourself at an unfamiliar intersection trying to decide which road to choose? You know that if you take the right road it will lead you to your desired destination, while the wrong choice will take you further away from where you want to be. Similarly, in life we are presented a choice of two paths. We all must, and do, make a choice as to which we will take. This choice is of the greatest importance as it has eternal consequences. One way is right, leading to Heaven. The other way is wrong, leading to Hell. Which is the right way?

Man’s Way? The majority of people choose to take the way which is according to their own wisdom. However, do a man’s own thoughts and feelings determine the right way? Jeremiah wrote: “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23). Why does it not reside in man’s faculties to determine the right way? Because, the “way that seems right to a man…end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12). Therefore, the one taking the way that is “right in his own eyes” is walking in “the way of a fool” (Prov. 12:15). Man’s way is “a way that is not good” because it is “according to their own thoughts” – it is not the right way (Isa. 65:2).

God’s Way? The only alternative to man’s way is the Lord’s way. “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven” (Ps. 18:30). This perfect way is revealed to us in God’s word. Our plea should ever be, “Teach me Your way, O Lord” (Ps. 86:11). Let us “ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it” and by this “find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16). The way of the Lord is right, and it leads to eternal life in Heaven.

God once told Israel, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death” (Jer. 21:8). He has done the same for us. Which way have you chosen?

David Eldridge