|
The fog is thick
and it is misting as the driver tries to make his way along
the curvy road in the darkness. Suddenly another automobile
passes him going considerably faster and obviously knowing
the twists and turns that had the other driver baffled.
Seeing the tail
lights about to disappear in the darkness the driver speeds
up so that he can follow the twists and turns of the confident
driver now in the lead. The second driver smiles because he
is now able to go so much faster by following someone who
knows the way.
After a considerable
number of twists and turns the lead car suddenly makes a sharp
left turn and stops. The second car has to slam on his brakes
to avoid a rear end collision. He angrily gets out of his
car and shouts to the car in front, ”What right do you have
to stop so suddenly without any warning?” The driver is startled
by the accusation and replies, ”Well, I am parked in my own
driveway.”
The driver who
decided to follow learned a couple of valuable lessons. It
is possible to make more progress if you follow someone who
knows the way. It is important to follow someone who is going
where you want to go, otherwise you may end up where you did
not want to be.
Paul told us, ”Be
ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ.” It is important
that we follow someone who will lead us in the right direction.
Jesus told us that ”he is the way, the truth and the life.”
He called many disciples to him by saying only two words:
”Follow me.” It is right that we follow someone like Paul
because he will lead us in the way that Christ would have
us to go.
But how do we know
that the one we are following is leading unto Christ or away?
It is important for us to have a good idea ourselves just
what the right way is. How do we know the way?
The Bible is our
road map to lead us to Christ. We must constantly check our
progress by reading the map. We must not allow someone else
to lead without personally checking up to be sure that we
are going in the right direction. Those who lived in Berea
searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was telling
them was so. This means that wise men even checked up on Paul
before following him.
We remember leading
a long string of cars who were following us down a long dead
end road. As we turned around at the end and waved to each
as we came back, all our followers realized that we were lost.
Making a wrong
turn on a road may waste some time but making a wrong turn
on the road to the kingdom can be disastrous.
Jesus talked about
the blind leading the blind and all falling into the ditch.
The road to destruction is a broad way as our Lord told us
and ”many there be that go in thereat because strait is the
gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there
be that find it.”
Let us make sure
that we are in the way of life, that the ones we are following
are going where we want to go. We also want to be sure that
those who are following us are being led in the right way.
Jeremiah tells
us that the LORD said, ”Stand ye in the ways, and see, and
ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
|