Parental Warning: One Path To Life And Many Paths To Perdition.

Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!

Parental Warning: One Path To Life And Many Paths To Perdition.

Thanks for checking in to read or listen to one of the most important articles I have written. It’s a bit longer than usual but the topic, especially as it pertains to children, is huge.

I begin: A dear friend of mine is grateful for growing up in a family whose parents were once loving and caring and sought to raise the children in ways they thought would be best for them. Now after many years of good times, the family has been shattered by the the fact that one parent has fallen deeply in love with the things of this world and has little care for the children, while the other parent has lost any ability to react to the situation in a Christian way. What events precipitated the arrival at this disastrous situation?

In sharing his family’s plight with me, he said, “I could see it coming 10 miles away.” How could this person make such a statement? Was he claiming to be a prophet? Was it a display of arrogance because he thoughthe knew something that he never could? Was he in violation of the commandment not to judge (Matt.7:1)? No, he was not any of those things. He was simply applying the teaching of scripture that identifies the fact that if a person chooses certain paths, they will arrive at a predictable destination of destruction.

I was struck by the thought of how the Bible speaks about paths. How important is the path a person takes? Note: Every path has a starting point and a destination. The starting point is the first choice a person makes, and the final destination is the culmination of all of the decisions along the way between the two points.

It was an easy exercise to simply look in my concordance at the words path and pathway. Here is what I found:

There Are Pathways The Lord Loves– note that I have bolded the words that point us to the only source of every good thing!

• In Psalm 16:11, there is a path of life and joy- You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
• In Psalm 27:11, there is a smooth path of safety and peace when we walk in obedience to the Lord. Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
• The path of the Lord is one which we need to learn from the Lord and be guided to by the Lord- Psalm 25:4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your Psalm 23:3 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

 There Are Paths The Lord Hates– These are the paths men take who choose to go their own way. They are paths that God demands we turn away from.

• There are the crooked or wicked paths as in Isaiah 59:8. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.
• Matthew 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
• Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

Those passages don’t require a seminary degree to interpret and understand so how do we find ourselves at times on the wrong path?

1. There Are Paths That Appear To Be Life But Lead To Death.

 How easy it is to aspire to wealth and all of the accoutrements that come with it. How we so often covet what we see the rich and famous have. This is the American dream- money, pleasure, freedom, and the ability to acquire whatever you desire. Yet behind the mask, we find all matters of sin that show up in their divorces, dysfunctional children, infidelities, substance abuse, and suicide. They become hollowed out people who never reach contentment because they chase after the false gods of this world. While they enjoy temporary pleasures, the destination of this path is destruction.

Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the poor man in Luke 16? Once in Hades, the rich man desperately wanted relief, but this is what he was told: But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

By the way, if you find yourself fixated on the wealth of others, read Psalms 37 and 73. There we see the Psalmist complaining about what seems to be the good life of those who ignore God before he realizes that their path is destruction and his is blessing.

2. There Are Paths We Are Blinded To That Everyone Else Can See.

We may be very good at discerning the paths of others, yet not see a destructive path that we are on. Sometimes we can behave like we are in control- we can walk that path and jump off it at any time.  And when a caring person confronts us on this dangerous path or our conscience tugs at us consistently, we may deny any possibility that that we could arrive at the point of disaster.

And the effects of the numerous decisions to remain on an ungodly path do not become immediately visible. No, the change is subtle and the layers of callous building on the heart are not easily noticed. These missed opportunities to turn away from an ungodly path steadily move a person to the very worst of consequences and if God does not step in and smash the path, thereby almost forcing repentance, the possible result is frightening. It is difficult to understand how a person could get to the point where they no longer can repent, but the Bible makes it clear that it does happen. Here are two of the passages that illustrate this horrible situation:

Hebrews 12:17 Speaking of Esau- For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Hebrews 6:4-8 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

3. There Are Paths That We Create For Our Own Brand Of Christianity.

You may think that I am going to say that some people make gross changes to solid Christian doctrine and create some kind of monstrous Christianity, but I am not. Those folks are blatantly on the path to perdition. I’m talking about professing Christians and the more subtle changes, changes that are harder for the outside world to see, such as little to no Bible reading, prayer, or spending any time with God. I’m talking about people who straddle the invisible fence between loving God and loving the world. As Oz Guinness wrote, they think they can “dine with the devil” without getting burned. I’m talking about people who go to church but don’t regard the worship of God high enough to prevent opportunities for fun to get in the way. I’m talking about professing Christians who are not striving for holiness and have found their own standard of comfortable personal holiness as good enough.

These kinds of people are in a very vulnerable position and are ripe for a continued decline leading to the end of a path which is a shallow, powerless, dead faith. Sadly, such describes much of the church in America today.

The great book by John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, helps us see all of this more clearly and I highly recommend it. In a brilliant allegory, he tells the story of a man who was told to stay on the straight and narrow way in order to reach Heaven. Through many decisions, some of which were foolish, the traveler finds himself on the wrong path. And that’s a good segue to the word of God and the path that is the starting point for the Christian whose destination is heaven:

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. Matt. 7:13-14

If I may, I will use the word, “path” in the place of the word “way.” The path for the Christian is a hard path but it is the only path if we want life. We can’t toy with the loves of the world, we can’t create a Christianity that is not hard, and we can’t go for a casual walk with the Lord. Every sin that is in opposition to God and His truth must be killed or it will kill us. We have got get off every path that might lead to destruction and get back on the only path that leads to life, joy, and peace with God.

What about the children?

This brings us back to one of the most important aspects of parenting and raising your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. NEWS FLASH! Children have no discernment, so it is completely up to the parents as to what path or pathways they will be set on. Think about their current pathways right now. Please do not think that it is no big deal.

• Who are your children’s heroes? Do they reflect Christ? Do they do the things that Christ loves?
• What are their favorite TV shows and movies? Do they embody Christian values or are they weaving humanism into their heads?
• What kind of music are they listening to? Do the words bring glory to Christ or represent a Biblical way of thinking? Or are they memorizing words that tell the story of a lifestyle that conflicts with Christ?
• Who are their friends? Children will often ascribe greater credibility to the words of their friends than their parents. What does that family believe? What does your child see and hear in their presence?
• What is their school environment like? Is the truth of God incorporated into their daily lessons? If not, that cannot be a path to knowing and loving God.

All of these pathways have destinations, and those destinations need to be held up how the Bible instructs us regarding the dangers and the weaknesses of our hearts. If we are not careful as parents we will set them on the wrong path, and if we make the mistake of doing so and are not diligent to deal with it early on, we will suffer the consequences when they reach the point of being sufficiently ensnared, maybe even losing their soul for all eternity. Just as we can do with our own sin and deny it is wearing down our spiritual strength, we can deny that there will be any ramifications from allowing our children to walk certain paths. But remember, you will give an account for parenting your children onto the right paths, so cherish and obey Ephesians 6:4.

Finally, ask God to help us. The fact of the matter is that if it were up to us to avoid the ungodly paths and stay on the straight and narrow path, we would surely stumble. He is our hope and strength. Jude 1:24-25 says, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Thanks for checking in. See you next time.

OTHER RECORDINGS THAT YOU MAY FIND HELPFUL:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Share on Facebook

Last modified: October 13, 2023