Tuesday, August 04, 2009

The Narrow Path

Imagine that you are awakening for a deep sleep to welcome a new day. You know that there is a purpose for this day in the plans of God. You know that there is a path that God has for you. How do you find this path?

Do you make a list of things to do and people to see? Do you awaken your common sense and lean on all the past wisdom you have attained? Do you call for some anointed Christian leader to give you your path?

I believe the path is not a set of tasks, common sense or following the anointed leaders of the day. The path is a Person. Find this Person and you find the perfect path for you. Miss this Person and you miss the path.

Paul tells us to understand what the will of God is. The will of God is explained in the scriptures and the scriptures point to the Person of Jesus. The will of God is Jesus.

When I awaken each day I find the path. Author Mike Wells taught me to awaken each day with the words "Jesus, you are welcome here!" This is finding the path that few find. The path waits within you each morning. Truly we live from the inside-out. We must be renewed day by day. When we set our foot on the path that is Jesus, we are renewed by His presence.

This path is narrow because the purposes of God in Christ are narrow. Imagine that you are beginning your day shoulder to shoulder with Jesus at the beginning of the path. Look carefully into His eyes. Do His eyes look like those of man with singleness of purpose or those of man wondering what comes next? Look carefully at the language of His body. Is He nervous, anxious, tired or lacking direction. Take your cue from Him. He is your perfect path.

This path is difficult because the entire world is walking thousands of individual paths that go nowhere. The confusion is so great and the competition so fierce that the path that is a person seems crazy and foolish. To walk this path is to confront the other paths and this always causes a negative reaction because men are proud of their paths.

My only hope must be to learn to narrow my purpose to one Person not many. When my focus narrows to Jesus as my path, then I will love as I should. When my focus narrows to Jesus alone, I see the path to love others in the most effective way for God's glory. When nothing matters to me but Jesus, then everyone else will matter as they should today. This is my path.

Your perfect path waits for you every day no matter where you are as you awaken. Begin from within with Him.

Matthew 7: 13-14
“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.

No comments: