Are You Headed in the Right Direction?

I have had many conversations over the years with religious skeptics. They are not in short supply. I’ve heard all types of expressions of doubt and unbelief. They often mirror the sentiments shared in the following letter written by a seventeen-year-old student to a friend:

You ask me my religious views: you know, I think, that I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them, and from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best. All religions, that is, all mythologies, to give them their proper name, are merely man’s own invention—Christ as much as Loki … Superstition of course in every age has held the common people, but in every age the educated and thinking ones have stood outside it, though usually outwardly conceded to it for convenience . . . Of course, mind you, I am not laying down as a certainty that there is nothing outside the material world: considering the discoveries that are always being made, this would be foolish . . . Whenever any new light can be got as to such matters, I will be glad to welcome it. In the meantime, I am not going to go back to the bondage of believing in any old (and already decaying) superstition.

Undoubtedly, a letter like this could have been written by any number of postmodern agnostics or atheists. And of course, they always think their position is intellectually superior to Christians. They most always put Christianity into a basket with every other myth and superstition. To them, they could never embrace such nonsense.

However, the letter written above was penned by C. S. Lewis. When Lewis became a Christian, he referred to himself as “the most dejected convert in all of England.” Lewis had truly believed he was heading in the right direction. His atheism had made him feel confident, perhaps even a bit arrogant.

Lewis describes his life in an incident that occurred the first time he traveled to Oxford to begin teaching. He reports that he came out of the railway station loaded down with luggage and headed down the street in the wrong direction, away from the colleges. He kept walking, increasingly disappointed by the frowzy houses and shops he saw, until he came near to the edge of the city. Only when he saw that he was on the outskirts of town and entering the countryside did he turn around. There spread before him, “never more beautiful since, was the fabled clusters of spires and towers of Oxford.” At that point he realized he had gone the wrong way, turning his back on his true destination. In recounting this episode Lewis concludes that “this little adventure was an allegory of my whole life.”[1]

Many people, like Lewis are unwittingly headed in the wrong direction. Solomon pointed this out when he said, in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” This end referred to by Solomon is not just physical death, it is a spiritual death as well. It’s a path that leads to eternal separation from God.

Most people would not knowingly walk down a wrong path that leads to destruction. But when they are deceived and believe that their path is the right one, that is exactly what happens.

But God constantly tries to get people’s attention and to steer them in the right direction. It’s his desire that people would follow him. Isaiah 30:20-21 says, “The Lord is your teacher; he will not continue to hide from you, but you will see your teacher with your own eyes. If you go the wrong way – to the right or to the left – you will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the right way. You should go this way."

That voice that people hear, but often reject, is God speaking to them through their conscience. It is the innate guide that God gives to everyone to help them discern between right and wrong.

But if we refuse to listen to God and obey his Word then our conscience becomes seared. A seared conscience refers to a state where a person's moral sense or sensitivity to right and wrong has become dulled or hardened, often due to repeated acts of wrongdoing or ignoring the inner voice of conscience. It implies a loss of sensitivity to guilt or remorse, leading to a reduced ability to feel the impact of one's actions (see 1Tim. 4:2).

James 4:17 says, “Anyone who knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning.” If we repeatedly continue to do wrong, we are sinning against God. If we doggedly pursue our own path and ignore God’s voice, our conscience will become hardened and eventually dead.

Jesus knew, however, that we all have a desire to find the right path. In Matthew 10:39 Jesus said, If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” In other words, follow your own path and do what you want, but in the end, you will lose your life – It’s a dead-end pursuit. On the other hand, Jesus said, if you choose to follow me, you will find your life and be on the right path.

While there are many paths one can take in this life, only one leads to eternal purpose and happiness. That’s why Jesus reminded his followers in John 14:6 that there was only one right path. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father, except through me.”

As you consider your spiritual condition in this New Year, are you headed in the right direction? Have you chosen to turn a deaf ear to God’s voice and follow the world on a path that leads to eternal destruction? I hope not. There is a reason Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14,” “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

This year, make the decision to get off the broad road. It may be the path of least resistance, and with its many travellers you might think, "how could it be so wrong" – but all travellers on this road are heading straight to hell.

Choose to follow Jesus this year and you will be heading in the right direction.

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[1] Jamie Lapeyrolerie, Looking at C.S. Lewis’ Early Years, https://musingsofjamie.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/looking-at-c-s-lewis-early-years/, May 12, 2020.