A traffic accident that is particularly tragic is when someone travels on the interstate in the wrong direction. They are likely going to be involved in a head-on collision which will increase the chance of serious injury or even death, and also there will be innocent victims in the other vehicle.
Add to that the frustration of figuring out how the whole scenario occurred. Did they go down the on ramp and turn left? Were they unfamiliar with the traffic pattern and thought the exit ramp was actually the entrance ramp? We would say that was impossible, but out in the rural areas at night with little traffic, it’s easy to do.
The great shame for a driver in that situation is he thinks he is going the right way when suddenly he faces death.
Did you know that Jesus calls Himself the Way and that the kingdom He established, the church, is also referred to as the Way (John 14:6; Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22)? Yes, we all want to “come to the Father” through the only Way, Jesus, and spend eternity in their presence.
However, Jesus warns us, “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14 NKJV). Peter acknowledges the reality of some who found it too difficult, “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray” (2 P. 2:15a).
As a matter of fact, much of the content of the letters of the New Testament is directed at keeping those who are already Christians on the right road to Heaven. There is only one way!
Don’t you love it when your GPS says, “Make a “U” turn”? You have wandered off the most direct route and it will say that over and over again till you get back on course. That sounds a whole lot like the prophets of the Old Testament, trying to redirect wayward Israel. “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!’” (Isaiah 48:17-18a).
Christians know they’re on the right way when they follow the inspired directions of the New Testament. I love 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” I would think that I could preach that one verse every week and all Christians would stay on that right road. Unfortunately, the surrounding verses remind us of the reality that many so-called Christians “walk in darkness.”
The moral of this story: Read and obey Christ’s roadmap!
Jeff Greene, minister for the South Stokes Church of Christ