Are You on the Road to Nowhere?

Late last night while unpacking, I was listening to a show on TBN, and the narrator repeated the line, "the road to nowhere." We've all heard the line, but it was interesting to think about it as the narrator explained, in a spiritual context. I think he said that he quoted someone as saying, "The road to nowhere is a tough road to build."

I couldn't help assessing my own life and the things that I value. How many of those things that I'm spending my time "building" are actually fruitful? How much of what I spend my time doing and thinking about is really on a road to nowhere?

Instantly, I thought of how much time I spend wanting things. Even as I watched the show, I complained to my husband that we needed new bedroom furniture without even thinking about it until now. I'd like to think I'm out of the ordinary, but it seems to be all around. Most people have an insatiable desire for something other than what's really lasting and eternal--guess it's the flesh and human part of us that must be continually put under submission.

So, maybe for you it's not stuff, maybe it's food (another one of my struggles--lol). Maybe it's power, position, or fame. Maybe you have an unquenchable thirst for others' approval. Whatever we crave and yearn for, however, must be examined and the filter we need to use should be the Word of God.

There are just so many scriptures that speak to this but in Matthew 6:19, Jesus says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also." Down several verses, Jesus continues and says that "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). (Mammon here simply means money.)

Now, I'm sooo NOT saying that we should be poor, with no position or power, but I am saying that we need to keep our priorities in check. Whether it's getting money, position, power, prestige, material things, food, drugs, or whatever, even excessively obsessing over your health or looks, it all is fruitless and can lead to a road to nowhere if we're not connected to the true vine of Jesus Christ.

People who are truly connected to the vine of Jesus Christ are so easy to spot. They are secure and happy people. They don't struggle and strive against people because they recognize that the battle we are in is a spiritual one, so they fight spiritual warfare. They rest comfortably in who God made them and what the Lord has blessed them with--they are the best people in the world to be in fellowship with.

I am checking myself, constantly making sure that I'm on a road to fruitfulness and abundance in Christ. One of the worst things any of us can do is to deceive ourselves into thinking we're on a good path only to find we're on a self-righteous journey that lead us to an eternal abyss.

So what road are you on? Drop me a quick line. . .