The Path of Life – February 9, 2019

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11

The Path of Life

The late Yogi Berra, a famous baseball player, once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” He made that saying the title of a book of his many well-known “Yogi-isms.” It’s a silly saying, because everyone knows that when you come to a fork in the road, you have to walk down one path or the other. The point of a fork in the road is that you can’t walk both directions.

The Bible says that life has two paths. The one is the path to eternal life. The other is the path to eternal death. You can’t walk both directions.

We give thanks to God that he has made known to us the path of life. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,” he says. “Whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” The path to life is the path of faith in Jesus as Savior.

The path to eternal life has some sacrifices along the way, because faith in Jesus as Savior means that we do not believe in ourselves as saviors, or in other people who want to entice us to follow them rather than Jesus.

But the path to eternal life ends with joy in the presence of the Lord. All of the joys of heaven, all of the eternal pleasures, involve being in the presence of God forever.

The other path, the one leading to eternal death, may look good, but at its end there is only destruction. Many are on that path. Through Jesus, the Lord leads you on the path to heaven, the one less traveled, and that will make all the difference.

Prayer: : (Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal – 422)
Jesus, lead us on till our rest is won; and although the way be cheerless, we will follow, calm and fearless. Guide us by your hand to our fatherland. Amen.