go_another

Go Another Way!!!, by Randall D. Kittle

While driving home from church one day, the traffic suddenly began to slow to a crawl. After inching our way forward, I was able to spy between the backed-up cars ahead of me, a row of barricades with their blinking lights and a number of orange detour signs. As we finally drew near the detour, a large flashing sign blocked the road in front of us. It blinked this ominous warning, “GO ANOTHER WAY!!!” It seemed so blunt … so demanding … so rude. But as we drove along on the detour, I saw why it had so graphically commanded us to take this route. The road that had been closed ahead of us went slightly up a ramp and then just ended … leaving a 25-foot drop. Anyone failing to heed the sign’s warning would have fallen to an almost certain death.

That warning sign — so clear to warn us of danger and instruct us on the way we should go — reminds me of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As believers, we don’t have to travel this journey of life on our own. God always has His eyes on us, and will lead us and guide us if we will hear His voice and heed His instruction. As it says in Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

The name of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is the Greek word “paraclete,” which originally meant: “called to one’s side.” The Holy Spirit is our true Friend “who sticks closer than a brother” in (Proverbs 18:24). If we stay in close relationship with Him, He will walk alongside us on life’s journey telling us not only which way we shouldn’t go, but also which way we should. The Lord has promised us in Isaiah 30:21, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” How wonderful that God loves you and me enough to see the pitfalls that lie ahead in our lives and warn us, “Go Another Way!”

Warn Others
As I began to thank the Lord for His heart to warn us of danger and guide us in His way by the leading of the Holy Spirit, He spoke to me, saying, “Warn those around you who do not follow My way that the road they are on is a dead end. It goes nowhere. Tell them they must go another way. They must choose My way.”

In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus wasn’t just a good example, a great teacher, or an inspiring religious leader. Jesus was God come to rescue man, so man could become like God. And here in this verse Jesus boldly declares that He is “the way” to come to God — “the way” to get to heaven. He isn’t a way … He’s the only way!

This Bible passage is perhaps the most important verse for the days in which we live — days of pluralism and political correctness. Yet many, if not most, people find this verse offensive and divisive. While we live in a culture that believes “many roads lead to heaven,” Jesus said that He is the one Road that leads to eternal life. Every other road is dangerous, and following it will end only in tragedy.

The Bible warns us twice that, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25). God is calling us to warn others that unless they choose the Lord as their path to life they are traveling on a dead end road. They must heed the call of God to “Go Another Way” … His way!

The world may not receive this news with joy and excitement, but we must warn them nevertheless. I didn’t like the flashing sign that told me I had to take a detour from my planned route and go another way, but I’m so glad someone put that sign up. Without it, I might have died. Let us be willing to hear the Lord’s instruction to warn others to turn back from the dead ends they have taken and encourage them to choose instead the only way that leads to life — Jesus Christ.