As a boy, I remember reading a poem by Robert Frost in school. The title of the poem was The Road Not Taken. It has stuck with me all of these years because it is a great example of the choice we must make as we come to the fork in life’s road. Here is that poem in case you haven’t read or had forgotten it.
“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 kept 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.”
As God’s chosen people were on the verge of finally entering the Promised Land, Moses told them they too were at a fork in the road. “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him and committing yourself firmly to him. This (He) is the key to your life.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
That seems a simple choice to make, but Proverbs warns us twice. “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25)
One path leads toward God and the other leads away from Him. Jesus came to earth to make our choice easier. He became the once and for all sacrifice for our sins. All we have to do is believe in Him and follow Him on the road that leads to God. When we are born of His Spirit, He even dwells within us to keep us on that path to eternal life with God. (See John 3:1-21)
God loves us so much and wants so badly for us to take the path to Him, but He wants it to be our free choice to make. Sadly, many people take the enticing, well-travelled road that leads to death, thinking to themselves, “I can always come back to that other road someday.” But way leads on to way and they never get back to it.
I am so thankful for the road not taken and for my long life on the path with Jesus. It hasn’t always been an easy route, but it has always been worth every (often weary) step of the way. At the end awaits eternal life with my Lord and a happy reunion with my wife and parents.