By: John Mitchell
There is a Robert Frost poem titled, “The Road Not Taken”. The last sentence of the poem is, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Much more importantly, through the scriptures in the Bible, God tells us that it will make all the difference to us, if we will spiritually travel the less traveled road. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus tells us to, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Also, in Matthew 22:14, Jesus said, “For many are called but few are chosen.” In Matthew 7:21-23Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your Name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Spiritually there are only two roads available to us. The narrow road leads to being in heaven for eternity. The wide road leads to being in hell for eternity. Sin and the ways of the world put us on the wide road to destruction. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Repenting of our sins and being baptized for the remission of our sins, puts us on the narrow road to heaven. In Acts 2:38a, “Then Peter said to them, “Repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;” Once we are on the narrow road to heaven, we have to faithfully follow God’s plan of salvation for us, to be able to stay on the narrow road to heaven. We need to obey God’s commandments. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus tells us what the two great commandments are, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Staying on the narrow road to heaven requires each of us to make a life-long commitment to love, and obey God, and to faithfully follow His plan of salvation for us. Submitting to God’s will for us, is a good thing. Many people have thought that it would be a terrible life to not be involved in the sinful ways of the world anymore. After becoming a Christian, seldom does anyone want to give up living a righteous life, free of sins, and of the consequences of sin. We have the peace of God in our life that no earthly peace can compare to. Christians aren’t people who walk around with a face looking like they just ate a pickle. Christians are serious about faithfully loving and obeying God. And Christians like to enjoy this life that God has blessed us with. We laugh and have a good time in fellowship with each other, and we go to birthday parties, sporting events, and family events. We travel and go to other activities and events. And we help each other to stay on the narrow road to an eternity in heaven. Worldly, carnal people, are helping each other to stay on the wide road to an eternity in hell. When a Christian sins, he or she can repent of the sin, and ask God to forgive them. If sinning has become an unrepentant part of the Christian’s everyday life, then they, regrettably, are on the wide road to hell. How we live our everyday life determines where we will spend eternity. When we sin, is it a matter of, I’m sorry I got caught, or is it sorrow and sadness that we failed to faithfully obey God? It’s not a matter of; can we trust God and His word of scripture to be true. God does not have to prove Himself to us. We are the ones who have to prove to God that He can trust us to be faithful to Him. There is not any scripture in the Bible titled, once saved always saved. There are three scriptures that all say, “But he who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22, and Matthew 24:13, and Mark 13:13.) And there are many other scriptures that say the same thing, but worded differently. You may say that you don’t love God from your heart, but you want to become a Christian so that you won’t go to hell. If you have heard about a particular person, but you have never met that person, you can’t say that you love that person from your heart. You have to have a relationship with a person before you can decide if you do, or don’t, love that person from your heart. If you don’t know much about God, then you don’t have enough information to love God, from your heart. The way to have a relationship with another person starts by talking to that person. The way to have a relationship with God starts by daily reading the inspired word of God in the Bible. The more a person reads the Bible, the more they will learn, and understand how much God has done for us, and how much God loves us. “We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) By daily reading and studying the Bible, and praying, our love for God, from our heart, will soon happen. I suggest starting with two chapters of Gensis each day, along with a chapter of Matthew. I believe that Matthew chapters five, six, and seven will especially help the new Christian to know God, because all of the words are the words of Jesus, except for a few verses. The more we daily read and study the Bible, the more we will know and love God. The more I daily read the Bible, the more Christian I am in my thinking, and toward other people. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that, “For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Whatever you treasure the most will be first in your life. Always put God first in your life. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) Please daily read and study the Bible, and pray for God’s will to be done in your life, and in the life of others.