Walking with the Wise #220: Upward and Onward
“The path of life leads upward for the prudent,
that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.”
—Proverbs 15:24
—Proverbs 15:24
Living for Jesus is difficult and easy. Allow me to explain. We know that the pathway of Christlikeness is hard as Jesus Himself said,
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few”—Matthew 7:13-14.Yet, at the same time it is easy, when we realize that it does not rely on our inner strength for us to achieve victory. Victory has already been achieved through Christ’s death on the cross and we enter into that, as He said,
“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”—Matthew 11:29-30.We must remember that these verses were spoken before the cross, but we see the fullness of them through the lens of the resurrection. If we are to truly walk the path of life, we must follow in the steps of Christ. Suffering awaits us, but through Him, we can, as He did, “overcome the world”—John 16:33.
The difficulty most of us experience is persevering in the face of the everyday matters of life, as C.S. Lewis’s character, the demon Screwtape cynically describes,
“The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it – all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’, while really it is finding its place in him. His increasing reputation, his widening circle of acquaintances, his sense of importance, the growing pressure of absorbing and agreeable work, build up in him a sense of being really at home in earth, which is just what we want. You will notice that the young are generally less unwilling to die than the middle-aged and the old.”[1]Indeed, for most of us, the path to hell is a gradual one, built on small sins, as Screwtape describes again,
“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”[2]Our goal then is to continually “test ourselves” as the Bible describes,
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”—2 Corinthians 13:5.We must keep a short account of sin, never be lacking in zeal, but renewing our minds so as to ensure that we don’t grow cold through the debilitating and sense depriving practice of sin. Our goal is to walk with Christ, let His life flow out from us, so that God may receive glory through our everyday lives and we might experience the true joy of knowing and being known by Him. Amen.
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