Paths

Where am I headed?

Photo by Deyan Sight on Unsplash

I have really grown to love hiking over the last several years. More and more my family has started seeking out beautiful places to hike. I love that moment of standing at the trailhead and seeing where the path leads, and then setting out together to tackle it. Once you take those first steps, there is a sense in which you are committed.

It is no wonder the Bible uses path language over and over again to talk about our lives. And I’ve found this to be true—

For many Christians describing their relationship with God, they summarize it with “decision” language. I have made a personal decision about Jesus. To be clear—our decisions about Jesus matter. I believe they matter for this life and beyond. We see decision language throughout the Bible:

Joshua told the Israelites to choose this day who they would serve.

Elijah asked how long the people would waver between Baal and God. You have to choose.

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?”

Again, our decisions matter. Some matter beyond this life. But they also matter in and for this life as well. Our decisions related to our faith in God must be more than a simple checklist of mental assent—an intellectual exercise where we choose between options. Jesus intended our decisions to be evidenced by our actions. You have decided something? Show it by walking it out.

Jesus regularly called people to put those decisions into action with an invitation—

Follow me.

This invitation was to become his disciple. To enlist as his student or apprentice. Saying yes to Jesus is also saying yes to his way and his path. It is a decision to walk out your discipleship. What Jesus knew about discipleship is that, when you decide to start down the path of following, you are committing to being shaped into the very image of the one you are following.

Why? The paths we choose can determine the course of our lives.

Our decision to follow Jesus is not simply a one time decision. Jesus said it this way—

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

Daily. Each day we choose again to follow. Because every day there are alternate paths competing for our attention and suggesting our direction.

Let me explain with a few pictures.

We often talk about Jesus’ path like this one above. It is a lone path, off by itself. Eventually it heads into the beautiful distance where something even better awaits. Just me and Jesus. None of those annoying people anywhere to be found.

The more I have followed Jesus, the more I find his path to be like this next one—

A path among many competing paths. We can even name some of these paths…

The path of Jesus is a path we are invited to follow in the midst of many other competing paths, intersecting in and out, day after day. And Jesus’ invitation? Take up your cross daily and follow me.

There are times in my life when I have had to stop and realize that I am no longer following Jesus. I am not talking about backsliding or losing my salvation. What I mean is that I am no longer living like a disciple. I am no longer following Jesus down the path on which he is guiding me. I didn’t like the way someone spoke to me and so I’m telling everyone my version of the story and making sure I come out as the victim and not the villain. I am taking steps down the path of anger and bitterness. And in that moment, I need to hear the voice of Jesus saying,

That’s not my path. Follow me.

Or I begin comparing my life to the lives of others around me. I become ungrateful for what I have because all I can now see is what I don’t. I covet the newer toys I can’t afford. I am walking down the path of materialism.

That’s not my path. Follow me.

There are three “path” questions I have found to be helpful in my life.

1. Where am I headed?

   (Not just eternal destiny but in my daily decisions)

2. Where does this path lead if I were to continue to follow it?

3. What do I look like at the end of this path?

In the book of Proverbs, we can hear Solomon pleading with his son to consider the paths for his feet—

My son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
for their feet rush into evil… (Prov 1:15-16a)

In another Proverb, Solomon cautions—

Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:25-27)

Some of us have set foot on paths we would later regret. We have experienced the empty promise of what lies ahead if we just walk a little farther. And by the grace of God, we have left this path to find the way of Jesus again, or maybe even for the first time.

When I was in middle school in New Jersey, I had a friend I’ll call Drew. Drew introduced me to some dice games. I have memories of the parking lot outside of the eighth grade dance, rolling dice in a circle for money. (This story is going to get more New Jersey before it is finished.)

In high school, Drew got me into gambling. We would play card games in his basement. I was always amazed how much money I could lose within five minutes. I am even more amazed that I kept coming back. After a while, the stakes had become too high. I stopped gambling with Drew. It may not be surprising to know that after high school, he did time in prison for activities related to gambling and his role as a sports bookie. (I said this story would get more New Jersey.)

At the same time, I also worked at a pharmacy in a strip mall. I was a 15 and 16 year old kid that could sell cigarettes and lotto tickets. It was the 90’s. My boss used to let us play the scratch-off lotto tickets when we were bored. I worked at a pharmacy—I was often bored. One particular night, I scratched through twenty dollars worth of scratch-offs in just a couple minutes. I won $2. I made maybe $6 an hour. This was not a good hour for me. I was losing money by working at the pharmacy.

Here is when it all changed for me. My manager would play his own numbers each night before cashing out the lotto machine. This guy worked the lotto like a well-oiled machine. He would play his Pick 3 and Pick 4 numbers, then move on to the scratch-offs. Some nights he would spend hundreds of dollars. I would watch him when there weren’t any customers. I was leaning against the counter with him when he hit twenty thousand dollars on a scratch-off ticket.

He didn’t even crack a smile.

I said something like, “That’s amazing! Can you believe it!?” I’ll never forget what he said next. He kept methodically scratching tickets, never looking up, and lamented, “I’m so far behind, only hitting the million will do.”

I didn’t have this language then, but I knew I was getting a chance to see what I looked like at the end of the path if I continued. This is where the path was headed, and I didn’t want to be like my manager. Or worse, like my friend Drew.

Sometimes you can walk so far down a path that you arrive at a particular spot, look around and exclaim, “How did I get here?”

As a follower of Jesus, there are many paths competing for our attention. Some will lead us to a place where we are surprised about the person we’ve become (“How did I get here?”). Others will simply distract or lure us away from the path we were meant to walk. As a disciple, we must make the daily decision to follow Jesus, learning from him what his way is and letting him guide us in the midst of competing paths.

In his book, The Imperfect Disciple, Jared Wilson says it simply but profoundly—“This is how I like to think about discipleship, then—not just following Jesus, but refollowing Jesus every day.”

So,

Where are you headed?

Where does this path lead if you continue to follow it?

What do you look like at the end of the path?

May the answers to these questions lead us to the one who described himself as The Way, and who is our Good Shepherd, guiding us along the right paths for his name’s sake. And may we hear his sweet, yet costly invitation again—

Follow me.