Friday, November 30, 2007 at 12:12am
Two roads diverged in a darkened world
Column: For His Glory
Two roads diverged in a darkened world, and I am glad I could not take them both, for one road leads to life and the other to death. Yet the agony lies not in the roads that diverge in this darkened world but in the friends and family who take the wrong road. I wish I could stand at the crossroads and choose the narrow way for them, for it is the only way, but in the end the choice for you is not mine to make. Each of us has to take a long, hard look at the two roads of life and make the proper choice.
One road in this darkened world offers you a life in which you can pursue anything you want except God. You may reach and attain riches or die young of a drug overdose. This road doesn't really care what you do, as long as you don't cry out to God. Because in the end that is basically what this broad road has to offer — only death and destruction. You may find success on this road — the house, the business, the family and the wife — but it will avail you nothing. It is not very smart to gain all that this world has to offer and lose out on eternal life (cf. Mark 8:36). Settling for leftover garbage is not wise when the healthiest food is yours for the taking. Likewise settling for this earth when there is Jesus to gain is not worth it.
Yet it is not that easy if scripture is not your safe guard. Without the truths of scripture to guide you to Jesus, the two roads — a simple choice between right and wrong — becomes a multiplicity of roads and the decision that much harder to make. What, then, do you do? How do you get people to realize that truth is found only in integrating the teachings of scriptures? The drama comes closer to home when loved ones care nothing about making the choice or believe there aren't choices to make. You begin to feel helpless when your efforts are rebuffed or not even acknowledged. It is at those moments when the reality of the miracle of conversion hits home. We know, as Christians, that conversion is a miracle of God, but we never are really faced with its reality until we feel utterly helpless. You know in the pit of your stomach that if God doesn't get hold of that family member or friend, nothing will. Hence you wait and pray and pray and wait some more. God will act in tender love toward them.
"The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (2 Peter 3:9)
The other road: "the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it" (Matthew 7:14). Yet I think Robert Frost sums it up very well: "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
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Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He is currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Gio Marin.
One road in this darkened world offers you a life in which you can pursue anything you want except God. You may reach and attain riches or die young of a drug overdose. This road doesn't really care what you do, as long as you don't cry out to God. Because in the end that is basically what this broad road has to offer — only death and destruction. You may find success on this road — the house, the business, the family and the wife — but it will avail you nothing. It is not very smart to gain all that this world has to offer and lose out on eternal life (cf. Mark 8:36). Settling for leftover garbage is not wise when the healthiest food is yours for the taking. Likewise settling for this earth when there is Jesus to gain is not worth it.
Yet it is not that easy if scripture is not your safe guard. Without the truths of scripture to guide you to Jesus, the two roads — a simple choice between right and wrong — becomes a multiplicity of roads and the decision that much harder to make. What, then, do you do? How do you get people to realize that truth is found only in integrating the teachings of scriptures? The drama comes closer to home when loved ones care nothing about making the choice or believe there aren't choices to make. You begin to feel helpless when your efforts are rebuffed or not even acknowledged. It is at those moments when the reality of the miracle of conversion hits home. We know, as Christians, that conversion is a miracle of God, but we never are really faced with its reality until we feel utterly helpless. You know in the pit of your stomach that if God doesn't get hold of that family member or friend, nothing will. Hence you wait and pray and pray and wait some more. God will act in tender love toward them.
"The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (2 Peter 3:9)
The other road: "the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it" (Matthew 7:14). Yet I think Robert Frost sums it up very well: "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
— — —
Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He is currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Gio Marin.