Ps 25:4 talks about the paths of the Lord. It says, “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.” So, the Lord has some paths that we can find in the Bible and these are the paths upon which you and I should walk through this life. They are the paths of life, the paths of light, the paths of righteousness, the paths of wisdom, and the paths of judgment. Today, we’ll study the paths of life.
The paths of life are found in Prov 2:19 which says, “None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.” The paths of life are:
The path of eternal life in Jesus Christ – Jn 14:6; Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 5:12. This is the path of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way to get to the Father. The path ends all the way up in heaven. Once you are on this path, you are assured of eternal life with the Father. It’s like being on an escalator or in an elevator. It’s going to take you to the top floor. There are no stops along the way. There is no place to get off.
The path of the crucified life of Jesus Christ – Gal 2:20; Rom 6:6-14. The secret to fully enjoying your eternal life now is to get on the path of the crucified life. It begins with dying to self and living to God. This path leads you away from the world to God. You should start walking this path the moment you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. Some Christians never walk this path and so they live only a temporal life with their affections down here. Then they suddenly wake up in heaven when they die. It’s good to get to heaven, but you’re going to get there anyway because you are on the path of eternal life in Christ. Yet, there is so much more to this life than waiting around to go to heaven. But you have to die to yourself to find it. When you die to yourself you find the life of Jesus Christ in you.
The path of abundant life through Jesus Christ – Jn 10:10; 2 Cor 5:17; Phil 3:10-14. Once you start on the path of the crucified life, you find that this path leads to the path of abundant life in Jesus Christ. Paul knew that to know Christ and the power of his resurrection he had to be made conformable to the death of Christ. Once he was on the path of abundant life, filled with the power of his resurrection, he pressed for the mark of this high calling in Christ. Nothing could turn him back. The devil couldn’t stop him, the mobs couldn’t stop him, the priests couldn’t stop him. The more they tried to stop him, the more the abundant life of Jesus Christ became apparent in his life.
Conclusion: We enter the path of life on the path of eternal life. Once on this path, you must go through the path of the crucified life to access the path of abundant life. Don’t let an alternate path draw you away from the path of eternal life. And don’t let the fear of being on the path of the crucified life scare you. There is nothing this world has to offer that comes close to what we have on the path of abundant life in Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful journey the whole way.