Start Your Engines
A normal small-town dweller’s annual activity list will likely involve the county fair. Our local one just ended this past Saturday with the premier grandstand event of the, “Demolition Derby.” This is the greatest draw for spectators and also the highlight event for the culmination of the entire week’s festivities. Greasy shade-tree mechanics, highly-skilled technicians, and just “average Joes” (and their giddy sons) spend multiple weeks tuning a, “hoopty,” piece of junk into an armored piece of junk. They will spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours just for the strange thrill of running into other people and getting run into by those same other people who are mostly all strangers… and laughing about it.
Yep… the highlight of the week.
This pastime seems to echo the, “life-and-times,” of many folks today. They spend unknown amounts of assets, and untold numbers of hours, and even involve the next generation in the pastime of destruction. All for a fun time and a good laugh. The un-seriousness of our culture and society who gather in the grandstands to cheer on the derby racers should highlight the level at which we have slipped into the irrational.
Here are some examples:
* Seeing that “friend” on social media self-destruct over the obviously ignorant life choices that propelled them into the situation in the first place.
* The billions of dollars generated by news outlets who will almost sacrifice their first-born to get the hot lead for the next, big “bad news” story.
* National government sprinting Helter-Skelter towards the lake of fire with their policies and politics dragging with them as many citizens as possible.
* The nuclear family is being subjugated by the trans/LGBTQ cult who need to groom your kids because (obviously) they ain’t got their own.
* Vilifying masculinity and Christianity as enemies of the state so as to remove the safety rails divinely created to protect a healthy society.
* The despicable reality of child sex trafficking exposed through efforts like “Sound of Freedom” being ridiculed, canceled, attacked, and persecuted for years because of the monsters who perpetrate the evil and the ones who provide the cover (media, Hollywood, trans, government) want to operate unhindered.
These are just some real-time instances of how destructive-determined some areas of our culture are committed to being. But, is there anything in the average believer’s life that could cause them to follow the destructive road?
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 BSB
The natural state of humanity is to follow the security of the crowd, on the easy path of least resistance, while feeling the warm-fuzzies of the affirmation of all those around them arrogantly declaring, “this is the right way!” This was the story of my life in certain foolish stages… follow the crowd, just be cool (whatever that is), get in where you fit in, and if it feels good then do it. It caused me to rush headlong into the brick wall of misery and destruction on multiple occasions.
There is a way which seems to be right with men, but the ends of it reach to the depths of hell.
Proverbs 14:12 Brenton Septeugin
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
Proverbs 12:15 KJV
In our modern world, we believers have incorporated many destructive lifestyle choices as well. It is the wide—road way to think about ourselves, our problems, our needs, and our wants for most of the waking hours of a normal day. This is egocentric, and everyone on that road has the same self-centered, mustard-stained t-shirt.
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Isaiah 26:3 NLT
Peace is the opposite of destruction. A simple definition of peace is that everything is right, the way God intended it to be. In Exodus 21-22, “shalom,” (peace) is translated as “make it good,” “shall surely pay,” “make full restitution,” or “restore.” The ancient Hebrew meaning of shalom was, “to make something whole.” Not just regarding the practical restoration of things that were lost or stolen. But, with an overall sense of fulness and completeness in mind, body, and estate. This meaning of wholeness incorporates a wide meaning of things being right, good, and proper. In Genesis 43:27-28 (NKJV), Joseph, still unrecognized by his treacherous brothers, is asking about his father’s (Jacob) health.
Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.”
In Hebrew, the word translated as, “well-being,” “well,” and, “in good health,” is all one word – Shalom. Peace is the narrow road that leads to the divine quality and quantity of eternal life we were created to enjoy. We are wholly healthy in God’s kind of peace.
Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:1-2 BSB
These verses show us the “narrow road” way of living and thinking. Strive for Kingdom achievements and think about the Heavenly truths. I know it seems or sounds a bit too simplistic, yet these inclinations will become safety rails on the curves of life if properly installed and maintained. Going off the curve will launch the vehicle of life down a slippery slope that bottoms out in a dead sea. That sea is overflowing with demolition derby cars and drivers who have abruptly stopped laughing, wondering how they got there. It is all fun and games until your derby car is on fire and the seatbelt is stuck.
Beloved is a narrow road, filled with remnant people doing life together. It is strange and even laughable to the folks drinking beer in the grandstands, and even weirder to the derby drivers… until the race is over. Our road leads to the Great Awakening, and their destination is destruction. Both roads are going to be an adventurous journey, but ours ends with a Great Marriage Feast celebration.
Drivers! Start your engines!
I love you,
Steve
