The Broad Path

“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many entering in through it.  Because narrow is the gate and distressing is the way which leads unto life, and there are few who find it.”  Matthew 7:12-14

 

Everywhere people set goals for themselves.  Many of those goals are focused on finances.  There are goals to pay for college, goals to own transportation, goals to buy a house, goals to save for retirement.  Lives are planned based upon certain interpretations of how to achieve these goals.  Yet for many a goal of becoming rich is upon their hearts.

 

All around this nation financial bubbles are exploding in growth.  The amount of student loan debt acquired by those who are studying for a career to obtain such goals has hit a record amount.  Auto loans have exploded reaching, new highs in indebtedness of our American society.  Home buying in many places has created bubbles of unsustainable pricing and debt that is piling up in a manner that is neither sustainable or realistic.  The stock market is increasing often by three digit figures per day, far surpassing common sense and then there is Bitcoin.

 

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are exploding in value as hand joins to hand across this once great nation, with those who are investing hoping for a landslide of profits to materialize in front of them.  The false security in these bubbles has further seduced our society to take bigger risks than ever before.  Credit card debt is skyrocketing as those who promise prosperity from the helms of society continue to preach their false doctrine of riches for all. 

 

All over the goals of obtaining a piece of the American Dream, a slice of the pie continue to increase month after month.  As the holiday shopping is in full swing, with each credit card swipe or click of a button, the insanity of living for today without worrying about tomorrow increases.  Just who will hold the cards when it crashes and who will pay those bills when they are due?! 

 

Constantly, as a wind blows, people are pointed in a direction that is not wise.  Did society already forget about the housing bubble?  Have people forgotten the lessons from the tech boom?  Indeed their goals are set, they are actively trying to obtain them, but for most they are ill-focused, on the broad path that leads to destruction.

 

With the future in mind, the cars, the houses, the nice and elegant things to fill the home, the keeping up with the Joneses, planning for a sound retirement, focusing on their glamorous lives, just where is the planning for one’s own soul?  Where is the focus on their eternal destinations, rather than material items and wealth to achieve superficial goals? 

 

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your calamities that are coming upon you.  Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.  Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.  Indeed the wages of the laborers who reaped your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.  You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.  You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.  Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.  You also be patient. Make your hearts firm, for the coming of the Lord draws near.  Do not grumble against one another, brethren, that you not be condemned. Behold, the Judge stands at the door.”  Jacob (James) 5:1-9

 

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:  I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.  Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked;  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Revelation 3:14-22

 

All will stand before their Creator and quite simply if an individual has not repented and believed the Gospel their name is not written in the Book of Life.  Only through faith in Jesus Christ can an individual be Saved. 

 

“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one, according to their works.  And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”  Revelation 20:11-15

 

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men that is required for us to be saved.”  Acts 4:12

 

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has established a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed. He has given assurance of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30-31

 

“Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 14:6

 

So why goals for what will only be obtainable for years?

 

“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is evident that we can carry nothing out.”  1st Timothy 6:7

 

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”  Mark 8:36-37

 

Consider for a moment, if you will, your goals, your priorities.  Why all of these goals, health care to try to take care of one’s medical needs, money for a home and retirement, families, etc.; when there is no or little thought into the afterlife?

 

“And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”  Revelation 20:14-15

 

What will you do when you stand before the Judge and you are cast into the Lake of Fire? Of what value will these goals, without Salvation, be to you?  Of what good will it be if you were able to obtain the things of this world, but have nothing but empty pockets for the next?  For without the eternal riches, of which are only found in Christ, you are poor, blind and naked.

 

“And you being dead in trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others; but God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might display the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no one should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Therefore remember that you, being Gentiles in the flesh; who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands; that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.  For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.  Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”  Ephesians 2

 

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through the faith of Jesus Christ, to all and upon all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to give evidence of His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to prove at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.”  Romans 3:21-26

 

“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you.  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.  I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.  For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.  But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:16-23

 

Is it wrong to want to obtain a car, a home and a sound retirement?  No, but without Jesus Christ as your Savior, these goals are fruitless. 

 

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

 

“If then you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth; for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”  Colossians 3:1-4

 

The goal of any individual should be Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  There one may rest comfortably, one may be secure, knowing that their eternal destination is secure in Christ Jesus.  Focusing on superficial things that will ultimately be parted with at death is a fruitless endeavor, one that many follow on the broad path that leads to destruction. 

 

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and its lust; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”  1st John 2:15-17

 

Amen!