Proverbs 16:17 – The highway of the upright turns aside from evil; whoever guards his way preserves his life.
THEME OF THE DAY: WATCH THE ROAD. My wife tells me I am a “gawker” when I drive. I deny it, but I do have a tendency to look around a lot. Don’t be afraid to ride with me. I am safe. My wife also says that about my driving. However, one does need to be cautious about gawking when driving. Obviously, too much distraction to the left, right, or behind us as we drive may lead to serious consequences by way of an accident. We do need to watch the road as we drive, always being alert for hazards and dangers. It applies on the “road to heaven” also and Solomon alludes to this truth in today’s scripture.
As Solomon refers to “the highway of the upright turns aside from evil”, it is easy to see the application in the Christian life. We do travel to heaven on the road Solomon describes. It is a road defined for us by God’s Word and points us to a life of holiness or uprightness. Another truth in Solomon’s words is that God’s way to heaven will never include evil or sin. He will never guide or direct us to do wrong that good may abound. Never. The Christian life is a constant pursuit of holiness or a turning aside from evil. It is a narrow way, a hard way, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14). A life of progressive holiness, not perfect holiness, is always present in the child of God. God delivers us from sin to no longer live in sin and to guide us through this life defeating sin through holiness and His fear (2 Corinthians 7:1). But this journey on the highway of the upright is not a “let go and let God” type of traveling. There is no spiritual cruise control we get to engage on the way of heaven. We have responsibility and Solomon addresses this in the second part of today’s scripture – “whoever guards his way preserves his life.”
A Christian traveling on the highway of the upright will guard his or her way. There will be a constant alertness to the spiritual potholes and thus an avoidance of such perils. And what might be some of them which seek to hinder our holy “drive” to heaven? Let’s consider just two . . .
First will be the spiritual pothole of worldliness (1 John 2:15). This huge pothole has many manifestations but we will only mention one; a lack of spiritual-mindedness. Worldliness is getting an upper hand in our lives when we find ourselves lacking the discipline and ability to interpret and live life lacking a spiritual-mindedness. This basically means we just execute life’s routine and responsibilities whether in the home, community, and church without much thought as to the spiritual opportunities or spiritual consequences unfolding each and every day with each and every encounter or event. Live this way without spiritual intentionality and purpose, and our journey on the highway of the upright will be severely hindered.
The next spiritual pothole seeking to derail and detour us as we travel to heaven is something very familiar to all of us – busyness or a life lived in the fast lane of always on the go, go, go, and not taking the time to reflect, meditate, and invest in things of the Lord Jesus and of eternal value. And here is something about a busy life. The voice of activity, the voice of busyness, and the voice of running from this to that is always a loud voice, a screaming voice. It is a voice of urgency and relentless nagging with words like “Do this, go there, attend this, commit to this” and will always drown out the still small voice of God whispering, “Be faithful to Me. Be steadfast to what is important to Me – My people, My gospel, My church.” Listen to the wrong voice, obey the wrong voice, and our journey on the highway of the upright will come to a screeching halt. We will find our lives in the spiritual breakdown lane in need of Divine repair through confession and repentance.
So, as we travel to heaven today and each day we are closer to the end, watch the road. It is filled with many potholes requiring us to be alert always.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to walk mindful of the many spiritual dangers lining my journey to heaven.”
QUOTE: “To walk the Christian life without daily awareness of the dangers will ensure a disastrous fall”.