Spiritually, there are two possible roads between
which every accountable soul makes a choice. Jesus said, "Enter
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the
way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew
7:13-14). The word "way" in this passage means "road."
Christians need to select the high road to heaven!
Taking the high road to heaven sometimes means
we refuse to be detoured by the temptation to berate those who
malign or otherwise harm us.
Take Jesus, for instance. "For even hereunto
were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us
an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed
himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
(1 Peter 2:21-24)
Rather than stooping to the level of those who
make themselves the enemies of Christians (Galatians 4:16), Christians
need to follow the lead of Jesus when he said, "But I say
unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good
to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not
even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only,
what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect." (Matthew 5:44-48)
An interesting contrast occurs between the Manual
of Discipline (one of the non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls) and
the Gospel of Christ. New members of the Qumran community were
required to pledge their hatred for their enemies, but Jesus taught
that we must love our enemies. When Jesus prefaced his statement
above with, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy" (Matthew 5:43),
our Lord may have been quoting from the Essene creed, the Manual
of Discipline. The Essenes were a first century Jewish sect,
comparable to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Taking the high road to heaven sometimes means
that we must take a bridge or a span across great ravines, in
the depths of which we can see sinful ways or the low road to
hell. Keeping the course straight (and strait) between the ditches
of digression and out of the valleys of sinful pleasure, Christians
must endeavor to stay on the high road to heaven. Apostasy from
faithful Christianity is not only possible, but also the spiritual
corpses of fallen saints litter the landscape near and far.
"For if after they have escaped the pollutions
of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter
end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after
they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered
unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true
proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow
that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." (2 Peter 2:20-22)
Christians can not only lapse from faithful attention
to Christianity (Hebrews 10:25), but also they often commit some
of the most heinous immoralities. (1 Corinthians 5:1; Jude 23)
Christians need to select the high road to heaven! Furthermore,
Christians need to stay on the high road to heaven.
Are you on the high road to heaven? -RD 3 Box
28, Cameron, WV 26033. lrushmore@frontiernet.net