Unimpeded!

Isn't it great when you go through life unimpeded?  You are with the tide!  You are downhill!  The river is flowing in your direction and there are no obstacles in your way!  Maybe not!  Here is a story and a passage to consider.

When I played AAU basketball as a 14 year old, I was pretty tall for my age.  I was already 6'2" and weighed a massive 147 lbs.  Yes, a mountain of a man!  Anyway, because I was tall I got the task of jumping center at the start of the game.  The referee threw up the ball to start the game and I tipped the ball (I was 3" taller than the little guy I was jumping against) and actually got the ball.  I remember looking up and having an unimpeded path to the basket.  I took that ball and (reveling in applause and teammates) I headed straight for the basket, easily getting the layup.  I then learned why I was unopposed and why (and what) people were yelling.  The people and my teammates were saying, "wrong way!"  What I thought were screams of encouragement were actually howls of laughter.  But I DID get that basket ... 2 points for the other team.

I write this blog for two groups of people.  The first group are those people who want life unopposed ... unrestricted ... unimpeded.  I think of Jesus' words ...  "Go in through the narrow door!  The door is wide and the road is easy that leads to hell.  Many people are going through that door (Matthew 7:13)."  It is popular and our human nature to seek the path of least resistance.  But, like a teen on a basketball court, sometimes there is no opposition because the path is the wrong way.  Our standard for judging our path should not be the degree of opposition ... it should be the degree of consistency with God's Word.  There are many popular paths that we can choose, and no one will oppose us.  Jesus said, choose the narrow door ... it is worth the tight squeeze and the resistance!

The second group of people I am addressing are those facing difficulty and opposition.  John 16:33 says, "I have told you this so you will have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world."  The world has rainbows and ice cream, but the world (in the natural state of life) also has troubles, opposition, and obstacles.  I have found the latter to be most true for the people of God.  Find Biblical leaders, proclaiming truth to the world, and I will show you trouble, strife and resistance.  Show me a God-led journey, and I will show you evil-led opposition.  In John 15/16, Jesus reminds us that worldly people don't like truth, and they don't like the work of Jesus.  Jesus said they would hate His disciples ... put them out of the synagogue ... and they would even  kill some of them.  My friend Karl Stegall shares (in an address to his church in Montgomery) talks about being shunned and persecuted for having orthodox/traditional views.  I have personally heard him demeaned by conference leadership and insulted by people he thought were friends.  So goes life for those who tell the truth and follow Scripture.

If you are unopposed and unimpeded, be careful.  You might watch where you are going.  You might be going in the wrong direction!  Randy