Wednesday, July 10, 2024

“Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  (Matthew 7: 13 -14, New Revised Standard Version)

[I am taking a summer recess for the rest of July. I’ll be back on August 7. Thanks to all my readers. Have a safe and refreshing summer.]

                Perhaps, it is the rainy, gloomy day outside but my thoughts today are sobering.

                This week, the news tells the tales of two sixteen years old. Incredibly, one of them plays for the Spanish national soccer team in the 2024 Euro Cup tournament. He became the youngest player ever to score at this event. His future is bright, promising and full of possibilities. At the very least, his name will always be remembered for this one glorious moment. But the other sixteen-year-old was shot and killed in a Toronto apartment. It took the police a couple of days to identify the young man. No one seems to know what happened or why. His name will be remembered by his grieving family but probably soon forgotten by the rest of us.

                Sobering.  Two young men on totally different paths. Life can be tortuous and cruel, perplexing and confounding. Why did one teenager reach success and the other die violently? I don’t know their backgrounds or upbringings. What influence did parents, siblings, teachers, coaches, culture, peer groups have in their lives?

                It makes me wonder about our own grandchildren. What influences them? What a kind of teenagers will they be? Right now, they seem on such a good trajectory – loving parents, good schools, sports, intelligence, good ambitions, loving, kind, considerate. But what might change all that? Are they vulnerable to making poor choices, going down the wrong path? They will make their share of mistakes because everyone does, young and old, but will they learn from them and grow or will these mistakes lead to failure and defeat? There is a lot of pressure on today’s youth.

                Sobering. Two paths (probably more); each ending in radically different outcomes. On one path, it is so easy just to go with the flow, to go where the road leads us, to be where one shouldn't be, to let nature takes its course, to succumb to peer pressure and give in to life’s pleasures and lusty promises, believing that no harm can follow, no danger or life-threatening risks.  There are many who take it.

On the other path, it is more difficult. There are still rocks and rough ground but such a person begins to figure out that this path is far more fulfilling and meaningful. So, one makes good choices, does the work, sees the goal and strives for it, seeks out positive influencers, pays attention to wisdom and direction which has their best interest at heart. There are far too few who find it.

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!  All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”  (1 Corinthians 9: 24 -27, New Living Translation)

This applies just not to youth, of course; we are all wise to take the path to find New Life. We all needs to discern with eyes of faith and discipleship that to follow Jesus’ Way is the way to go. It means we dare to be different. It means that we dare to achieve those things that the world fails to value and respect.  It means that our ambition is to look and act like Jesus Christ. That takes work, intention, discernment, wise choices, and smart decisions.

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3: 12 -14)

Sobering - yes; challenging - yes. Demanding – yes. Hard work – yes. Rewarding - emphatically yes!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1)

Dale