My family and I recently hiked the Friends Trial Loop in Beavers Bend State Park. It was a great hike! The weather was terrific, the company was perfect, and the view of the Mountain Fork River was worth the trip. Though enjoyable, the hike was not without its challenges. Hiking a loop means choosing to go right or left at the beginning of the trail. We chose to go right, which resulted in a steep, rocky climb up the mountain. Had we chosen to go the other direction the way up would have less rocky, more gradual, and generally a lot easier. Unintentionally, we chose to go the hard way.
The Bible describes life as making a decision between two directions. There is the way of the righteous and the way of the unrighteous (Ps. 1), the way of light and the way of darkness (Eph. 5:8-14), the broad way and the narrow way (Matt. 7:13-14). Unlike a trail in the woods there is no mystery as to the makeup of each path because God’s Word clearly describes both of them! The way of God is the way of blessing and life but “the way of transgressors is hard” (Pro. 13:15), both in life and in eternity. Twice in the book of Proverbs God says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro. 14:12; 16:25). Tragically, most people will reject the direction of God and choose to go their own way–the hard way.
Which pathway are you walking? In Ephesians 4:17-24 Paul exhorted the Ephesians saints to stop walking in the futile and irrational way of the world and start walking in the way of God–the way they knew to be best. Could he say the same to you were he to write you a letter? God has clearly set before us the ways of life and death (cf. Deu. 30:19) and there really is no reason not to choose life! Don’t take the hard way.