Have you ever driven the wrong way on a one-way street? I have and it’s very unnerving. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who are spiritually going the wrong way. What’s really sad is that there are so many people traveling the wrong way with them that they don’t realize that they are going the wrong way.
Why do I say this? Look at all the false religions in the world that are deceiving millions of people. There are a lot of people who think that they are good so they wrongly believe that because God is a loving God that He will welcome them with open arms after they die. There are a lot of people going the wrong way spiritually.
The Bible states, “Enter in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).
God made us and God loves us. But we have all rebelled against God by sinning. Every single one of us have sinned. We have all lied, most of us have stolen something (even if it was something small or even just a glance at someone else’s answer on a test), most of us have used God’s name in vain, we have all lusted in our hearts and we have all coveted something or someone at one time or another. We are all sinners. The Bible says that it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).
The problem is that our sin separates us from God. One little white lie separates you from God – for eternity. There is nothing you can do on your own to make things right. You can’t undo your sin. Here is where people start heading the wrong direction. We realize that we have done something wrong so we take off driving (some of us as fast as we can) the wrong direction. The wrong direction being away from God. It’s just like we are heading the wrong way down a one-way street.
People want to feel good about themselves, so they try to be good, they try to do good, they try to help others, they try to do more good than bad (these works based ideas describe every false religion in the world). There is nothing wrong with trying to be good and doing good for others as long as you aren’t doing good as a way to save yourself. Again, no matter how good people try to be, they are never good enough. They can never be good enough to wipe out their sins. But people keep driving furiously down this wrong way.
That was the bad news. The Good News is that God knows that we can never undo our sins. We can never make things right on our own. Left to our own devices, we always fall miserably short of meeting God’s perfect standard. Because we can’t make it right, God made a way for us. He came down to earth from heaven in the form of Jesus – fully man and fully God. He was born of the virgin Mary and he lived a perfect sinless life. Unlike you and me, Jesus never sinned. He didn’t sin in thought, word or deed. He suffered horribly at the hands of the Romans, then he died an excruciating death on the cross. On the third day He rose from the grave and shortly thereafter was seen by over 500 people.
Jesus did what we couldn’t do. He lived a perfect life and He never sinned. He took our punishment on the cross. This is wonderful Good News! God asks you to accept this free gift and your sins will be forgiven. It isn’t enough just to know this and believe it. The Bible says that even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). You accept God’s amazing gift by repenting – turning away from your sins and putting your faith in Jesus. Acts 20:21 says we are to have repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Stop going the wrong way spiritually. Stop, turn around and go the other way. Repent, turn around and go to God. Get in a right relationship with God and surrender your life fully to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Take the narrow road. Don’t follow the crowd. Turn from your sins and put your trust in Jesus alone. Then follow His lead because He will always lead you in the right direction. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Get right with God today and He will grant you everlasting life.