What is the path of life and how do we find it?  Furthermore, why does the Bible call it the “path of life” and not the “the door to life” or even the “shortcut to success?”  Yes, God calls it the path that leads to life, and these words are written all over the Bible.  Solet’s discover what God’s path to life really means for us in our modern world, and how we can get there.

Probably the first thing to learn about paths, routes or trails – is that all of these lead to a destination.   And like many destinations, there are both easy ways and hard ways to get there.  This story will show both ways – and what an incredible difference you’ll see!

It was near noon, and we had already hiked 15 grueling miles through rugged mountains. Our 50-pound packs felt like a thousand pounds as they pressed hard into our sore hips.  We were already exhausted but only half-way home.  The narrow, rocky and almost invisible path was marked by sporadic piles of stones, called cairns.  But instead of the trail going straight ahead, down and out the mountain pass the way we expected it to go, the path turned hard left to flank the shoulder of the mountain – seeming to go nowhere.  

We had a long discussion about which way to go, and four people opted to follow the path, while a friend and I broke all the rules as we decided to split up, and go straight ahead, down through the center of the mountain valley, in what we thought was an obvious shortcut.  We figured we were so smart and laughed that in just a few hours, we’d be drinking a cold beer.  

So let’s talk about paths. The dictionary says that a path is a trodden way or a course of action.  

Mathematics have many paths such as first multiply and then add.  We follow recipes and stay on the trail when we want to make fabulous food.  In the same way, building a house requires a blueprint – it’s the path that the builder will follow.  Likewise successful businesses follow sets rules and procedures.  All of these could be called paths.  

The book of Proverbs talks about the path to wisdom or the shortcuts to death (Prov 4-5). It also says, “Trust the Lord with all your heart. . . and He will make straight your paths” (Prov 3:5-6).  

The key in this passage is to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”  Trusting in the Lord is like trusting the map.  Trusting the directions.  Like a good parent, God loves us so much that he only wants us to win – he only wants what is best for us.  God wants us to stay on his path, follow his wisdom, not for his sake, but for ours.  And his love for us is the only reason he wants us to stay on his path.  After all, God created us and knows what’s in our best interest – and knows how easily we can stray.

But sometimes we take shortcuts, and if we are lucky enough to live through them, we get to learn life’s lessons the hard way.  As for those mountains, I’ll never forget what turned out to be the longest day of my life.  We descended two thousand feet into a giant forest.  A forest laden with fallen timbers and truck-sized boulders.  It was impossible to walk straight ahead – in any direction.   We labored through those woods, fighting exhaustion, wanting to collapse – as we tried to plow ahead.  Finally, we literally crawled on our hands and knees just to get back up to the path, sometime near midnight.  And then we still had the long walk out.

Jesus said wide are the roads that lead to destruction, and narrow is a path that leads to life (Mt 7:13–15).  Today, we want to encourage you to stay on God’s narrow path and walk step by step toward life.