The Road Less Traveled Series

JESUS STRAIGHT TALK - The Road Less Traveled

Matthew 7:13-14 (p. 679) May 14, 2017

Introduction:

Robert Frost wrote one of my favorite Poems in 1920…It’s called “The Road Not Taken.”

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.

Jesus also said there are two paths each of us will chose to take…One is wide, easily accessible…and traveled by huge crowds of people…and the other is narrow…not so easily accessible…and only a few find it…He also said the road you chose will make all the difference.

Jesus is pretty straight in His talk when He says…there are two roads you can choose in your life…one has a wide gate and the path is broad…many choose it…but it leads to destruction.

The second road has a small gate…and the path is narrow…only a few people choose it…but it leads to life.

On this Mother’s Day let me challenge you to be someone worth following.

I. FAITH ISN’T HEREDITARY, BUT IT CAN BE MODELED

Faith is a choice…It cannot be forced upon anyone…nor can you or I make this choice for anyone else…including those we love fiercely.

I love the place where the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy and says, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (2 Timothy 1:5)

Your grandmother chose the path of faith…so did your mother…and I now see you walking down that same path of faith Timothy.

One of the first funerals I ever preached was my grandmother’s. We called her Memaw…and I shared this story for the first time then…It’s called:

A LITTLE PARABLE FOR MOTHERS

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is the way long?" she asked. And her guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed with them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and life was good, and the young woman cried: "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this".

Then the night came, and a storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle and the children said: "Oh, Mother, we are not afraid for you are near, and no harm can come." And the mother said: "This is better than the brightest of days, for I have taught my children courage."

And the morning came and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, but at all times she said to the children: "A little patience and we are there." So the children climbed, and when they reached the top, they said: "We could not have done it without you, Mother." And the mother, when she lay down that night, looked up at the stars and said: "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage, Today I have given them strength."

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth - clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: "Look up! Lift your eyes to the light." And the children looked and saw above the clouds an Everlasting Glory, and it guided them and brought them beyond the darkness. And that night the mother said: "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."

And the days went on, and weeks and months and the years, and the mother grew old, and she was little and bent. But her children were strong and tall and walked with courage. And when the way was hard, they helped their mother; and when the way was rough they lifted her, for she was light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.