Crossroads of Life

 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

 

How many times in your walk of faith or maybe you’re not a Christian, maybe you  haven’t yet come to the saving knowledge, the saving grace that only exists in Jesus Christ.  How many times in your life’s journey have you come to where the two roads converge and thought to yourself, which road should I take?  You look right and then left.  The road to the right is barely a single-lane cattle trail.  It’s dark and thick with fog.  As far as you can see, the road is paved in spots, gravel in other spots and full of potholes in others.  The road to the left looks like the more pleasant path.  It’s paved, a six-lane highway, rest stops every few miles, beautifully landscaped median, this has to be the right way, you think.  How many times have you stood at these crossroads and chose the easy path?  I find myself, forever more, standing at this intersection and pondering whether the road less traveled is even worth taking.  It’s narrow, rough, dark and ominous.  How will I navigate around the potholes and the ditches?  How will I keep from falling off the edge when I cannot see where I am going?

Jesus taught in Mathew chapter 7 that there are two roads in life, a broad road and a narrow road.  He said that most people will choose the broad road simply because it looks easy, but few will choose the narrow road because it requires faith to travel it.  We know that the broad road leads to destruction, right?  Jesus told us it did.  We have been warned over and over again.  The narrow, scary road leads to everlasting life.  So why do so many people choose the path of destruction?   The answer is the majority choose the wide way because there are no restrictions or requirements for admittance into the broad way. Everyone is admitted; atheists, agnostics, evil doers, even preachers, priests, rabbis, and church members.  The majority do not enter the narrow way because there are restrictions or requirements for admittance. Isaiah said, “A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Holy Way. Wicked fools will not go there. No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there” (Isaiah 35:8-9.  WEB). The way into the kingdom is restricted because men must be saved by a personal act of faith in Jesus Christ.

The broad road may look more pleasant and more inviting than the narrow road, but in the end it just not worth taking.  “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”  As Frost said in his poem, “I took the one less traveled and it has made all the difference.”  Which one will you choose?