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Walking the Path by Martin Wiles

“Do black bears walk paths?” Perhaps a silly question to ask Google, but obviously I wasn’t the first to ask it to an internet search engine.

Certainly they do. Why wouldn’t they? Just as it’s easier for a person to walk a mountain trail than climb up and down the side of a mountain through crawling rhododendron and grasping laurel, so it’s easier for a bear to walk a trail as well. No grass, vines, or entangling underbrush. Surging roots are possibly the only thing to contend with. So the feeling of comfort I initially had that walking the trail would diminish my chances of encountering a bear didn’t hold water after all.

Jesus once talked about path walking. You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way (Matthew 7:13 NLT).

Comparatively speaking, the path leading to God is narrow and populated by only a few people. The broad path is easier and more heavily populated. Walking the broad path of disobedience and selfish living is easier. Following Christ requires sacrifices, and at times they’re very difficult to make.

The broad path follows the crowd making it more convenient. I can go with the flow like a river surging downstream with no restrictions. Copying the crowd’s behavior and thinking like the majority is always easier than bucking the system. Walking Jesus’ path requires standing with a few and sometimes alone.

The two paths also end differently…one in heaven, the other in hell. I can’t have my cake and eat it too. I either live for the world and reject Christ-and thereby choose hell, or I select a life of obedience and sacrifice and gain heaven. The choice is mine…and yours.

Prayer: Lord God, sustain our steps that we might travel the narrow path which leads to an eternity with You.
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