Jun P. Espina 7 min read
Updated on February 15th, 2020
God’s Way Leads Us to the Truth
It is unsafe to live a life based on what “seems right to a man.” We find from Proverbs 14:12 that “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Gehazi (the servant of Prophet Elisha), for example, took Naaman’s gifts to Elisha, for which act God caused him (Gehazi) to suffer for life Naaman’s leprosy. Lot’s wife also thought it was just all right to disobey God before she became a pillar of salt. What seems right, from a human perspective, may not be so in the eyes of our Creator. God’s course moves us to the right and safe path. Our life, being God-given, must always string along the right route for it was not designed for cut and try existence. God’s line prompts us to the truth. Let’s perpetually fix in the mind that “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” (NLT)
God’s Way Directs Us Away from the Wrong Mindset
“I will never leave the religion of my birth for the sake of Christ,” asserted one young man who was my causal friend. After 20 years, his soul was still unsaved and hell-bound (he had an ungodly and riotous life), because what he thought to be right was but pure fanaticism. God’s space brings us to the scrupulous and safe route, but that guy had a Bible- and Christ-rejecting principle he thought was perfect for two decades. The so-called religion-of-my-birth mentality seems right on the surface, but it is not. We heard it often. For what we need in the divine order is God’s involvement in all things we do or think. Taught Christ that “without Me, you can do nothing.” (cf. John 15:5) Religion means a relationship with God through Christ Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (cf. John 14:6) The “religion of my birth” principle excludes God. Even if your parents are born-again Christians (God has children, but He does not have grandchildren!), you cannot claim the true Christian religion as yours by birth. You need to be born-again into the genuine Christian family. Take note that Christianity is not church membership. Rather, it is about one’s second-birth experience. It is never a “religion of my birth” stuff.
READ MORE: Second Birth Needed for Salvation
If your theology, for example, excludes Christ as humanity’s only Savior (See: Acts 4:12), then you are endangering your soul of hell. You are a sinner (cf. Rom 3:23) without a Savior and “lawyer” as you face our Father God at your death. Fix in mind and never forget that we all have a blind impulse to believe that what we do is right, but its end is against God.
This verse from Proverbs 14:12 applies to you very fittingly while embracing the “religion of my birth” persuasion. We need God; we need our Lord Jesus Christ. For God’s trail leads us away from the wrong mindset. It’s time to examine our faith, therefore, while we are still in the pink of our brief journey on the earth. Never entrust your soul on the “religion of my birth” teaching if you want to be forgiven and saved from an endless torment in hell. We need God—we need to hear Him through the Holy Scriptures!
God’s Way Draws Us Away from Fanatcism
If you believe and trust in something or someone without proof, then your weakness is not to listen carefully to the arguments presented against your belief. Such an attitude defeats all forms of discussion about truth. I was like that before, close-minded and fanatical. But Proverbs 14:12 seized me, scripturally: “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (NIV) I love this verse. (I love life-changing verses of the Bible to the point of calling my website “By This Verse”) Dismantling my settled fanaticism, this one passage of Scripture took me away from the presumptuous belief system of what is right outside of the breadth of God’s blessed word. God’s stretch heads us away from fanatism. His Word is our guide. “Your word,” says Psalm 119:105, “is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
READ MORE: Doubted God’s Word and Sincerity
God’s Way Leads Us to Trust the Holy Bible as God’s Word
He shed His blood for me
To wipe my sins away
He paid so great a price.
I know that it is true
In Christ I will have life
In heaven I’ll have rest
The Bible tells me so.
We teach that God’s avenue navigates us to the right and safe path. It is the title of this article obviously. It is our theme in this discussion based on Proverbs 14:12 which says that “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.” (AMPC) In my experience, I met the Bible first before finally meeting the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart by faith. As a preacher, I saw many so-called Christians who don’t bring their Bible often, even during Sunday services. Through such a pattern of behavior, I can only say that they don’t have a passionate interest in the Word of God. Do we want God to steer us to the good and secure lane? Then we need a supreme devotion to the Holy Scriptures! “All Scripture,” wrote the apostle Paul, “is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) God’s track ushers us to the Holy Bible. Outside of the Scriptures, Proverbs 14:12 always proves to be the rule in this world of sin.
God’s Way Leads Us to Jesus Christ
Judas Iscariot, for an illustration, thought at first that what he did to the Lord Jesus (betraying God the Son) was right. He didn’t know he was on his way to hell. Why, what happened with him in spite of his continued personal association with Christ for around three years? The answer is that Judas did not take the teachings of Jesus seriously — he didn’t hold the Bible close to his heart, so to speak! He was more dedicated on the load in his money bag than on the salvation of his soul from God’s wrath. He didn’t trust in Christ’s promised eternal life in heaven. He rejected our Lord like the 99.9% others in the world. God’s orbit sways us to Jesus Christ. It is according to the Sacred Writings of the Apostles and the Prophets — the Holy Bible! Read the Holy Book faithfully if you want to meet Jesus, our Lord. It is the same teaching the apostle Paul gave in Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (KJV)
Judas, moreover, was the treasurer of Christ’s disciples and that he was a thief. (cf. John 12:6) He lost his precious soul forever in hell for not believing in Christ’s words. He was like Lot’s wife who didn’t respond to the angels’ instruction not to turn back.
God’s way is not money—neither little nor unlimited money. Rather, it is faith in the Bible as God’s Word, and then belief in Christ, who is God the Son, Savior and sole Forgiver of the sins of all humanity.
Conclusion: God’s Way Versus the Devil’s
It is easy to fathom the devil’s way since it is all about the world. Christ said that the devil is a murderer and the father of lies (cf. John 8:44) and that Satan, according to the apostle Paul, is the god of this world. (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4) All of the devil’s traps and gambits are related closely to what satisfies humanity’s “lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.”
In Matthew 4:3-10, we find the devil employing his 3-types-of-lust game plan with Jesus Christ. Observe Satan’s attack: Command “that these stones be made bread [lust of the flesh]. . . .and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone [the pride of life]. . . .and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them [the lust of the eyes]“.
READ MORE: Trials Exalt Christ in Your Life
In contrast, God’s path, as mentioned already, is about the Second Birth by believing and accepting Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior through faith and trust in the Holy Bible first of all. God’s highway routes us to the right and safe path to eternal life; whereas, the devil’s ways “are the ways of death” forever in hell.
Christ’s parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) was about a man trying to follow the devil’s ways by satisfying the former’s natural yearnings and lusts. At the end of his journey, and after spending a tumultuous life away from his father, he repented and returned to his family. Then he said: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.” It is the key to God’s way: our decision to repent of our sin by accepting Christ’s blood as a ransom for our inequities.
Christ, the Son of God, came for the purpose of redeeming us from sin. (cf. Tit. 2:14)
God’s call for every human to enter the everlasting life as promised is trust in the Holy Bible as the very word of our Creator and faith in Christ Jesus. (John 14:6)
The greatest tragedy in life is eternal separation from God—which means death in hell! Why because you can have the free gift of salvation (see: Rom. 6:23) up for grabs given the Internet, the ever growing number of churches, the smartphone, and the availability of the Holy Bible.
If your heart is desiring sincerely for the right path and not the “way which seemeth right unto a man,” then trust the Holy Bible and give your life to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, by faith. Christ is God’s Way and Door to Heaven. (cf. John 10:9)
READ MORE: Forgiveness Through Faith in Jesus Christ
