Where Are You Headed?
Where are you headed?
Dave was asked the same question.
Read Keith Wishum’s account of Dave’s experience:
Dave was going the wrong way. But, he didn’t know it. He was making great time and was enjoying
himself, and he was sure he was headed the right way. On the Appalachian Trail, hiking to a place
called Peck’s Corner, Dave rounded a corner and found five men resting on a
boulder by the trail. There was the
inevitable, “Where are you headed?”
When Dave answered, “Peck’s Corner,” the conversation stalled.
“Peck’s Corner is the other way,” one of the five finally
said. “That’s where we’re going.”
“No, no, it’s this way,” insisted Dave, pointing up the
trail ahead of him.
In unison, five heads shook in disagreement. Five to one said Dave was wrong, but he still
wasn’t convinced. Until he finally
consulted his compass.
That settled it.
The compass made it clear. Dave
was going in the wrong direction. He had
been hiking for hours, going uphill, moving steadily away from where he needed
to be.
In Dave’s defense, he had fallen earlier that day and got
up dazed and disoriented and started walking.
Certain that he was still going the right direction, he hadn’t bothered
to consult his compass. That was a
costly mistake.
Direction, not desire, determines destination. It doesn’t matter where we want to go. It’s our direction that determines the
destination we reach. That’s true, not just
of hiking trails, but also of life’s travels.
And we all do what Dave did and get confused about our direction. *
So, where are you headed?
Jesus says that ultimately there are only two possible
destinations: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Are you headed for eternal life or for eternal
destruction?
Wishum states: “It is a powerful temptation for us to
assume that we’ll be safely guided by the way we were raised, what ‘everyone’
does, by what we’ve always heard, or by how we feel in our hearts, or even by
what the preacher says. None of those
are reliable guides, however.”
We need to check our Compass, the Word of God.
The Compass says that the way to eternal life is through
Jesus, God’s Son (John 14:6). In order
to access that narrow way that leads to life is to place our faith and trust in
Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for
the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).
Then, we must continue to follow the Way by continuing to follow His
Word (1 John 1:7).
Where are you headed?
Are you walking the narrow way that leads to life? If not, it’s time to turn around. Won’t YOU?
-- David A. Sargent
* “Going the Right Way” by Keith Wishum in A Word From
Williams Road. Keith serves as the
Minister of the Williams Road Church of Christ in Americus, GA.
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