A Side Road or the Main Road?

A farmer once hitched his horse to a wagon for a trip to town. His old hound dog followed, running here and there, chasing rabbits and anything else he could find. When the farmer arrived in town, a friend of the farmer questioned the difference in the condition of his horse and that of the dog. Although his horse had pulled the load, it seemed unaffected by the trip. But his panting hound dog appeared exhausted. The old farmer looked at the dog and explained. He said, “It wasn’t the trip that got the best of that dog; it was all them side trips.”

Side trips will get the best of you. They drain your energy and distract you from the main trip. If we’re not careful, these side trips will become the focus of our lives. If they do, then our lives are robbed of any great organizing center. We will wander in many directions without ever traveling anywhere meaningful. We will betray our tendency to make meaningless commitments.

One small boy attended his first wedding. The wedding was that of some friends of his parents whom he did not know. The little boy watched all of the proceedings with rapt attention. After the wedding was over, he asked his mother, “Why did the woman getting married change her mind?” The boy’s mother asked, “What do you mean?” The boy said, “Well, she came into the wedding with one man and left with another.”

Making up our minds in life is a challenge. We often find it difficult to make definitive decisions about the most important things in life. One actress was asked if she believed in God. She responded, “Oh, I believe in everything a little bit.” Those who believe in everything a little bit ultimately believe in nothing.

One of our besetting sins is that we lose sight of the things of major importance in life. Edith Wharton said that we tend to live in “the thick of thin things.” These things fill our lives, but they are not worth the investment that we are making in them.

What we need is an overriding direction in our lives. We need to make Paul’s great commitment who said, “This one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).

Ralph Sockman once said, “We are always turning to gadgets and not to God.” We tend to trivialize religion and our lives. The end result is that we make no meaningful progress toward Christlikeness.

Jesus’ early followers went by many names. They were called “believers,” “disciples,” and “brethren.” But they were also called “followers of the way.” Jesus had said, “I am the way,” and after His ascension His followers dedicated themselves to following His way. Such a commitment on our part will keep us off a lot of tempting side roads that rob us of our energy and ultimately trivialize our lives. Are you on the main road or a side road?