Proverbs 16:25 ESV
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A25&version=ESV]
We’re experts at deciding the right way to go. Left, right, up, down, family, work, church, that politician, this politician, that book, this one, that medicine, this one. We develop plans, and we walk forward with more or less confidence, and generally, even when we aren’t invincibly confident, we believe we’re going in the right direction (or the one that’s; necessary). Of course, as the poet put it, “The plans of mice and men gang oft agley,” which is to say that our plans don’t tend to work out as we expected. This truth appears particularly pressing in the spiritual realm. We are experts at coming up with a way forward, a justification for this, a way to atone for that, a treatment that will heal our sin, and every such attempt is by the end an unqualified disaster and destruction, unless the Lord intervene to Himself build the house (Ps. 127:1).
Man has a lot of ways of figuring out what he ought to do. We have philosophies galore, common sense to be ignored, traditions and ritual by the truckload, and the ingenuity to make each of us our own mix of it all. What man does not have, as it turns out, is the will to actually find the right way. How can I say that? Let’s consider what is necessary to finding the ‘right’ way forward, particularly when we’re talking about our own spiritual lives.
For such a purpose, assuredly we need to know first the nature of man as it is, second the nature of man as it should be, and third the nature of reality as it relates to man. Fourth, if we are Christians, we must know such of the nature of God as is our portion to understand (though in truth, this should be first). The necessity of each of these is shown by the following.
First, we must know man as he is because without a starting point we will not be able to know what must change and what must stay. Second, we must know man as he should be because without a goal asking for a ‘right’ way is meaningless; all ways are the right way if all end states are permissible (and incidentally, if all ways are proclaimed right, that is a declaration that all end states are also right). Third, we must know reality as it interacts with us because else we will not know how to set our course through it, like sailing a boat across the ocean without ever knowing wind or wave or current. Fourth, we must know God, insofar as He reveals Himself, because He is the basis and context for all this, the setter of reality, of our current state, and of our goal.
In all four cases, only God and His word can give us true sight, by which we may set our course. By Scripture we know man as he is, as fallen on one hand, as per Genesis 3-4, Psalm 14, and Romans 1, as redeemed and in the midst of sanctification on the other, as per Isaiah 53, John 3, and Hebrews 11. By Scripture we know man as he should be, both at the beginning in Genesis 1-2 and as he will be in the end (Rev. 22:1-5); we see too Christ, the firstfruits of redemption and the Son whom the righteous are made like to (1 Cor. 15:20). By Scripture, too, we see the world as sin has made it, all through the stories of the two Testaments and the warnings of the prophets and the wisdom of Proverbs.
Finally, by Scripture we see God and His nature; we are given too a path to walk, a plan to follow, a way which is right and truly life. God gives to us a path for our feet to walk for the healing of our souls. This path is hard, and its gate narrow, but it is the path that “leads to life” (Matt. 7:14). The path is no small thing, either, fit to fill only a small part of our lives. Hebrews 13:15 has no stutter when it states, “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.” As 1 Corinthians 10:31 declares to us, all parts of our lives are to be given to His glory, whether eating or sleeping or leading or working or praying or loving others. This is the path He would have us walk, the path of holiness which is born from true faith (Philippians 2:12), and let us rejoice in it.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
