The path leads somewhere.

Psalms 16:11
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

The path. We know what the path is, but do we know what life is? Can we have life outside of the path? Pilgrim’s Progress (John Bunyan, pub. 1678) is amazing in its description of the walk on the path and so powerfully describes today that the only conclusion is that we haven’t evolved towards becoming a better world, in fact, we’re devolving. That makes sense when framed up by the path.

When is life? Is it our brief time here in earth? Is it our eternity spent after our time here? It’s both, and that’s why this time on earth really, really matters.

What is life? Life is what we do. Life is what we walk. Life here is how we interact and the consequences of those interactions, the feelings, emotions, actions, results, all rolled up into one big life. I’m no philosopher, but this doesn’t seem that complicated. Life is what we live, it’s who we are.

So, what does the path of life look like? There are two, the wide path of the world and the narrow path of God. In this context, what is life? Again, it seems pretty simple – are you working for God or yourself? Are you letting God work through you or are you asking him to do your work for you? Are you in the world and of the world pretending to be with God (or not, just blowing him off completely), or are you in the world and not of the world, walking with God, submissive to his will, coveting more of God, but never coveting more than God?

He’s a good Father. We are called to do His work as he calls us to do, as He decides to use us, as He flows through us. Is that your life? Is that in your life plan? Does that get you up in the morning and through the day?

He shows us the path of life and we must choose to follow it. On the path, we are filled with the joy of His presence, a portending of what eternity will be like – our next life.

Go out in the world and fight because this is war. Show the world the difference between the narrow and wide paths. Fight with the love and redemptive power of Christ. Live a life that looks like “well done, good and faithful servant“.

One last thing: a life lived in love will never generate bad results. A life lived in hate, envy, greed, lust always will.

Love on, live on, fight on the path of life filled with the joy of His presence, focused on the end game of the eternal pleasures of being at His side.