Who is your tour guide? ∙

You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. – Matthew 7:13

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

 15 Today, I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.

 16 For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD, your God, will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

 19 Today, I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

 20 You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

What is a tour guide? A tour guide is typically a resident of the local region, and they are very familiar with the surrounding areas. They give guided tours to individuals or groups of visitors. They are experts on the location’s history and offer enlightening information about points of interest at nature attractions, historic sites, museums, and scenic locations. They act as goodwill ambassadors for their region.

The enemy of our souls is a tour guide of sorts. But he has only one destination, the road that leads to destruction.

Similarly, the Lord Jesus Christ offers an alternative destination, eternal life, and life in the Father’s presence forever.

John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Each child of the King can live a life guided by the Father. But it is a choice that each of us must make and reaffirm from time to time as needed.

The Father’s realm is the kingdom of God. He offers blessing and encouragement as we live out His guidance on earth.

“Every Christian should live a God-guided life. If you are not guided by God, you will be guided by someone or something else. The Christian who hasn’t the sense of guidance in his life is missing something vital” (Eric Liddell).

The Father’s people have always been a remnant, a small minority in this world. The reason is not difficult to discover: The way of life is narrow, lonely, and costly (Wiersbe).

REFLECT & PRAY

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Father thank You for showing me the way to find You. Please teach me how to allow You to guide me in the way that You want me to go.

INSIGHT

We often find ourselves at crossroads in our lives and ponder which road to take. One may be complex and challenging, but it leads to life and the assured favor of the Father. The other may seem easy, attractive, or even necessary, but it leads to destruction and death.

Jeremiah was one of three writing prophets during the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians. During his 40 years as a prophet, Jeremiah repeatedly prophesied that without repentance, judgment was coming.

Tragically Jeremiah’s warnings were ignored, and the time of judgment had come. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were now certain. The Jewish people could not save their property, but they could save their lives.

“Jeremiah tells the people that God is setting before them the way of life and death. Death is the fate of those who stay in the city; those who leave and are taken captive by the Babylonians will escape with their lives. . . . God is on the side of the Babylonians for the historical moment, and the best that can be done for the Judeans is to convince them to capitulate to the Babylonians and thereby save their lives” (J. Andrew Dearman).  

Jeremiah 21:8-10

 8 Tell all the people, “This is what the LORD says: Take your choice of life or death!

 9 Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life!”

 10 “For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the LORD. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.”

“The choice presented to the people must have sounded like the advice of a traitor.  Jeremiah explained that those who refused to surrender to the Babylonians would die. Those who surrendered would be spared. They would escape with their lives (lit. “have his life as booty,” i.e., the spoils of war)” (F. B. Huey).

Narrow is the gate, hard is the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matthew 7:13).

It is the difference between the long and the short way, the thoughtful and the thoughtless way. Very rarely, something may emerge complete and perfect in a flash, but most often it is the result of much effort and constant attention to detail. It is the difference between the disciplined and the undisciplined way. Nothing was ever achieved without discipline. Here we come to the heart of the matter. Who would ever take the easy, the short, the undisciplined way if they wish to follow their King (Barclay)?

“There is always a certain dramatic quality about life, for it has been said that all life is focused on our position at the crossroads. In every action of life, we are confronted with a choice; and we can never evade the choice, because we can never stand still. We must always take one way or the other” (Barclay).

Joshua eloquently challenged the Nation of Israel with the choices before them.

Joshua 24:15 If you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”

In The Ways, John Oxenham wrote:

“To every man, there open a way and ways and a way.

And the high soul climbs the high way, and the low soul gropes the low.

And in between on the misty flats, the rest drift to and fro.

But to every man, there opens a high way and a low.

And every man decides the way his soul shall go.”  

The Lord Jesus Christ admonishes all children of the King to follow Him. But He tells us upfront that this requires faith, discipline, and endurance. The Father reserves His best for those who do. Regrettably, most follow the easy way. This is, of course, a difficult life choice, but it is well worth the effort.

Who is your tour guide?

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