If you have done much...
Illustration
If you have done much traveling by car, you have come upon road signs that are clustered together on one post. They may indicate that several routes have converged into one road. There may be two U. S. highways, a state road, and a county road that have all come together and are served by one particular right-of-way. Though it is a little confusing, there is little problem -- until we come to a parting, where one or more of those routes change directions. Then we must decide which way our true route lies.
With the nation of Israel, their way often seemed to take them the same direction as that of other nations. But there would be a time when they would be called upon to exercise the prerogative of turning aside to follow God, and leave the paths of other peoples.
So with Christians, our lives frequently see several paths overlap. The path of our own desires and the practical path of the world often run the same course with the will of God. There is little problem at those times. The real question of obedience arises when these ways part and the way of the world or our own desires depart from the marked way of the Lord. Then we must choose.
Polycarp, the aged bishop of Smyrna, knew that decision when he was given the option of rejecting Christ or being martyred. His words have been preserved for us: "Eighty and six years have I served him, he has done me no wrong, how then can I now blaspheme my King that has saved me?"
With the nation of Israel, their way often seemed to take them the same direction as that of other nations. But there would be a time when they would be called upon to exercise the prerogative of turning aside to follow God, and leave the paths of other peoples.
So with Christians, our lives frequently see several paths overlap. The path of our own desires and the practical path of the world often run the same course with the will of God. There is little problem at those times. The real question of obedience arises when these ways part and the way of the world or our own desires depart from the marked way of the Lord. Then we must choose.
Polycarp, the aged bishop of Smyrna, knew that decision when he was given the option of rejecting Christ or being martyred. His words have been preserved for us: "Eighty and six years have I served him, he has done me no wrong, how then can I now blaspheme my King that has saved me?"
