Ready for a (seemingly) „beautiful“ and „comfortable“ path?
Then follow me on the wide path!
But I can promise you that this trip will not be so comfortable, as it appears.
The story about the narrow path was easier to write because it was more encouraging.
Here, on the broad path, we are all given a finger in the wound. My prayer and aim is to use this description to expose the lies of the great adversary in which we all too easily become entangled.
Sometimes I deliberately exaggerate things a little to make people think.
I've been avoiding publishing this blog post for a long time, but now I've finally got around to it 🙂
The decision
The wide path starts at the same crossroads where the narrow path begins. Every traveler who passes by here can choose one of the two paths. The entrance to the wide path is inviting. It is decorated with beautiful flowers growing around the imposing entrance. The path is bright and friendly. It is pleasantly wide and level. What's more, its entrance is not as far away as the narrow gate. There are also no conditions for entering the path. Everyone is welcome!
The traveler does not necessarily have to make a clear decision for this route. If you simply follow the mainstream, you will end up there automatically. People often find themselves on this path without realizing it. It is their normal life.
However, I am convinced that every person hears the voice of God several times in their life warning them against this path and offering an alternative. Because at some point, everyone will come to the inner conviction that this path cannot satisfy the deepest needs of the heart.
Some people ignore this quiet voice and numb it with the stimulants offered to them on the broad path. Others feel the longing for a better life, but the narrow path is too difficult for them and requires too many sacrifices. So they prefer to stick to what they have known so far.
Others feel a stronger pull towards the path with God and they really want to walk this path. But they are afraid of how people will react. They are afraid of losing their family, their job or their reputation. That is why they allow themselves to be carried away by this path against their conscience.
Still others may try to strike a balance between the broad and the narrow way. They want to be with God and long for his blessings, but they still don't want to do without the pleasures and comforts of the broad path. But you can't walk on both paths at the same time. It is a sad fact that the attraction of the broad path is much greater than that of the narrow path. Therefore, all those who follow their natural inclinations of the heart will automatically end up on this path.
Whoever enters this path is welcomed with joy. They are given the best promises that they will find everything their heart desires here!
The house of pleasure
Right at the beginning is a beautiful half-timbered house, the Haus des Genusses. It invites you to enjoy life. And there are no restrictions! You can eat whatever your heart desires. This house is not just limited to food, but to all the pleasures of this life. Everything is allowed as long as you simply enjoy life!
That sounds quite good at first. But here we immediately come up against the problem of the wide path. It satisfies my needs here and now. But unfortunately only for a brief moment. Once the stimulating effect has worn off, the body cries out for more. Over time, you need more and more to achieve the same satisfying state. So before you know it, you are trapped in a dependency. You can be addicted to food. Nowadays we eat far too much food that overstimulates our senses. These are over-spiced foods and highly processed foods. If you consume too much of these, you lose your appetite for simple, healthy food. Exactly the same principle can be applied to the consumption of coffee, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. Over time, you need more and more of these things.
I would make the bold assertion that everyone knows the house of pleasure. Many people are controlled by their appetite. If you want to find out whether you have your appetite under control or whether it controls you, I recommend fasting. It is enough to simply give up your potentially addictive substance for a day or two. If you manage it well, you won't be addicted to it. But if it's difficult or you can't manage it at all, then you should give it some serious thought (I'm speaking from personal experience: keyword chocolate).
I think that everyone has to struggle here, albeit in different degrees. Appetite was also not the first sin that man committed and the first temptation that Jesus overcame for us.
So that there are no misunderstandings, I would like to make it clear once again: Food is a basic need. We can enjoy healthy, simple food in the right quantities and take pleasure in it. But we should ask ourselves: do I live to eat or do I eat to live?
The romantic hut
The next stop on the wide path is very similar. This is why the Romantikhütte is located in the immediate vicinity of the Haus des Genusses. Here, too, we have a basic need that our Creator has given us. It is the deep longing for human love and affection. It is absolutely normal to long for a counterpart, because that is how we were created. But here, too, the Creator's gift can be misused. God created man and woman in his image. With marriage, he has created a protected framework in which sexuality can be enjoyed. This is the basis for a healthy family. But this is precisely what the adversary does not like. That is why he attacks marriage and distorts it. Today we live in a time in which there are hardly any restrictions on sexual desires. Everyone can live out their sexuality as they please. At first glance, this may seem like freedom. If you take a closer look, you can see how much misery this brings upon yourself and others. Starting with your own broken heart, then with children who suffer from the separation of their parents, right through to prostitution or abuse.
Here, too, the reason is that people are looking for a quick way to satisfy their sexual needs and follow their feelings. How often do we hear in movies that we should follow our heart. But our heart is erratic. Those who follow it bring themselves and others into misfortune. So people run from one partner to the next in the hope that he is their true love and that they will find true happiness with him. But instead of finding true happiness, their hearts are broken all over again. Today, God's values for a healthy family are described as outdated and restrictive, even by the churches (more on this later). But the exact opposite is true. God's boundaries are a protection to keep us from emotional suffering.
Just a quick look at your cell phone...
This is the phenomenon of our time! Whether you're on the train or walking down the street, you see people everywhere with their cell phones. Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. We realize how dependent we are on them at the latest when we are looking for them or have forgotten them somewhere. We have our lives on our cell phones: our photos, our contacts, our calendar, our health, our bank and much more. We can no longer live without our cell phone. Social media in particular harbor a high risk of addiction. How much time you can spend on them. It sometimes scares me how long it takes just to work through all the messages in the messenger services.
The smartphone and social media have us in their grip. We make ourselves dependent on it. On social media in particular, many people make their self-worth dependent on the likes and comments they receive for their posts. We compare ourselves with others. You see the great vacations and all the other beautiful moments from other people's lives. This makes your own life seem dreary and sad. This leads to depression and other mental illnesses. In addition, modern music, with its constant sound, damages sensitive brain nerves. As a result, God, who gently and quietly tries to make contact with us via our brain, can no longer be heard.
The media can easily steal our time, overstimulate our senses and take away our desire for spiritual things.
I am convinced that the media can also be used very wisely. It is possible to find a healthy approach to it and use it for good things. The question is whether I control my smartphone or whether my smartphone controls me.
Fast health
The attentive reader may already have noticed a principle. The broad road aims to satisfy the needs and passions of those traveling on it as quickly as possible. These needs and desires are often not wrong in themselves. However, the broad road invites you to satisfy them immediately, here and now. We live for the satisfaction of pleasure. Of course, many people are also able to control themselves because they realize that uncontrolled pleasure satisfaction is harmful to them.
This brings us to the house of health. Many people enjoy life to the full and are often unaware of the consequences of their lifestyle. At some point, the body can no longer cope so well with an unhealthy lifestyle. The person becomes ill. But instead of thinking about the cause and changing something in their lives, people want a solution. And preferably a very uncomplicated one. So a miracle pill is a great thing! You just swallow a few tablets and you're healthy again!
I am amazed at the achievements of medicine! Especially in my work as an occupational therapist, I marvel at what surgery can repair today! But I also see the downsides. Conventional medicine is swimming in the spirit of the times: quick cures without major sacrifices or changes. The quick, uncomplicated way to a „cure“. Today, there is a tablet or an injection for every illness. Endless amounts of money are spent on treating illnesses. In my opinion, prevention and combating the causes are still neglected. This is often a long and arduous process. People would also have to change something in their lives. They would have to change their diet and other lifestyle habits. But they are addicted to this lifestyle, which is why they often lack the will and the strength to really change something. Unfortunately, this pathogenic lifestyle is often the only thing that makes life worth living for them. Giving it up would mean losing quality of life. That's why many people prefer to take a tablet. It's the easier way.
Nevertheless, I am pleased to see that there are more and more people who understand the concept of lifestyle medicine and are putting it into practice.
To make the whole subject a little easier to understand, I would like to briefly explain the concept of the double J-curve at this point.
People who are on the wide path perceive a need and immediately look for a way to satisfy this need. It provides a brief positive feeling, but then comes an even deeper low. In the long term, this leads to dependency and dissatisfaction. This is the red curve. First it goes up quickly and steeply, only for it to go down all the faster afterwards.
The opposite is true for the child of God on the narrow path. He sees his need. But instead of immediately satisfying it himself, he hands it over to God and trusts that he will take care of it in his own time. Denying oneself is not easy, sometimes even painful and exhausting. That is why the curve goes down at first. But if you wait for God, he will provide happiness and contentment for your child. This contentment, which can only be found in God, is lasting. Entrusting your needs to God and handing them over to Him is the way out of the addictive spiral that results from the quick satisfaction of needs.
The person on the broad path is short-sighted. They only see themselves and their current needs and have to remedy them. Those on the narrow path have their focus on God and higher values. He no longer lives for himself, but trusts that God will provide for him and puts God first in his life.
The fountain of youth
Sooner or later, every traveler on the broad road comes to the point that there must be more to life than the here and now. They realize their short-sightedness and begin to ask about the meaning of life. Some people realize that this path cannot quench the thirst of the soul. In the picture, this is written on a wooden plaque, which represents the quiet voice of God. Some begin to search for solutions to their dilemma. Many hear the quiet call of God and are interested in his offer. But the price of leaving the broad path is too high for many. People love the comfort of the wide road. It is nice and wide and flat. Not like the narrow path, which is becoming ever narrower and steeper. But most people don't realize that the wide path is also increasingly narrow and always leads slightly downhill.
But for all those who long for peace in their souls, there is an „alternative“ to the eternal life of God. This world offers countless opportunities to prolong life here on this earth as long as possible and make it as pleasant as possible. Many people are afraid of growing old. You can see this especially with celebrities. How many people spend money to stay as young and attractive as possible. Many people do sport and eat healthily to keep fit. But as an occupational therapist, I have also made my own observations here. I have treated many older patients who have maintained a relatively healthy lifestyle and yet illnesses catch up with them in old age. They too become frail and will die one day. I have seen many of these people struggle with this fate. In retrospect, they ask themselves why they have chastened themselves so much if it doesn't seem to help in the end.
In old age, you become aware of your finiteness all over again. Many suffer from old-age depression. Some also find it difficult to let go of this life because they have no hope beyond this life or because the guilty conscience that they have tried to suppress for so long catches up with them.
Here they have to come to the sobering realization that all the promises of this world are like a dried-up well that promised refreshing water to quench the thirsty wanderer.
The fork in the road to the true source of life
In the meantime, some hikers on the wide path have already understood that this path does not keep its promises. It lures them in with tempting offers that also provide entertaining pleasure, but this path cannot satisfy the deepest longing in their hearts. Many a person comes to think about it and wonders whether there is an alternative after all. They are happy about the fork in the road that shows them a different path.
A missionary stands at the fork in the road, pointing to the true source of life. He tells his own story of how he changed from the broad to the narrow path because he had to realize that the broad path leads to ruin. He tells of the ingenious God who helped him to get on the right path and the true joy that communion with this God brings. Lovingly yet insistently, he calls on the pilgrims on the broad way to come to the true source of life. But most are still so dazzled by the broad way and magically attracted by its various attractions that they do not even hear the invitation. Others don't want to hear it because they like the path they are currently on better. Still others hear the invitation and also feel that they should leave the broad path, but the path to the source of joy is too steep and too far for them. They do not have the strength to leave the broad path and are swept along by the pull of the broad path. A few, however, are so tired of the wide path that they long for something else. Even though the narrow path seems steep, they are prepared to follow it in order to find true peace. Encouraged by the missionary, they climb the hill that leads to the narrow path. At the top of the hill, they come to the cross where they are freed from their heavy burden of sin. They cross the bridge over the gorge of death and come to rest at the source of life.
How are you doing?
Have you already found yourself on this section of the wide path?
I think each of us struggles with things on the broad path. Often the narrow path seems too serious or involves too much sacrifice that we think we'll never make it. Shall I tell you a secret?
It is impossible for us to leave this path and switch to the narrow way out of ourselves. Anyone who tries to do so will fail miserably. But that is exactly why Jesus came into this world. He was able to walk the narrow path for us. He paved the way for us. He is also the one who wants to give us the strength to choose the narrow path and walk on it. If we feel too weak and hopeless, we can simply tell Jesus honestly. We can confess all our weaknesses and mistakes to him and claim his forgiveness. Then we can ask him to give us the strength to choose what is right and to do it! In Philippians 2:13 God promises us the following:
„For it is God who works in you both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure.“
We can hold this text up to God in prayer and trust that he will keep his promise!
I wish you much strength and blessing for your decisions on your life's journey!
There's a little bonus too! 🙂
The short explanation of the whole picture can also be viewed as a devotion (held by my brother) on Youtube! Just click on the video next to it!
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