The Only Way

DEVOTION
PROVERBS
THE ONLY WAY
Prov 5:7-14
Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. 8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, 9 lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel, 10 lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house. 11 At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. 12 You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! 13 I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. 14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly." NIV
Well, there is it once again, this warning about staying on the straight and narrow. One more warning about keeping on the path God has set me on. There is no good in getting near the things of the world. There is absolutely no good that will come to me if I allow the world, or even those darn rules and regulations of denominational trappings to snare me and drag me into their dwelling place. I am convinced that living for any other reason than for God is an absolutely waste of a life. Only living for God will bring value and worth to my life. The world would simply suck the very life from me and give nothing in return except a cold tomb in the ground. Even those unhealthy religious regulations could drain the very fabric of living for God from my being. There is nothing, not one thing which could replace living for God. How could I allow anything to cause me to turn aside from the path I am on? Sometimes I think way too many believers, see just how close they can come to her door without actually going in. The invitations the world offers are surely very tantalizing and tempting, but they are only empty shells ready to relieve their unsuspecting victims of their very essence of life. I see the picture of a spirit being drained out of someone by Satan himself dressed in the disguise of goodness. No, I shall not go in, I shall not go near, I will keep to the path which my Lord has set before me, even when he disciplines me or corrects my thinking. I must continue to listen to his words and his words alone for only He gives life, instead of taking it like the world. He is the only source of truth, not those regulations that can drag me down into the depth of despair or even worse, spiritual pride. They can bring me to utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly. I do believe for the most part the whole assembly would rather judge me according to their rules and regulations rather than according to the word of God. I will not say I hate his discipline, I will not spurn his correction, I must obey his teachings and instructions for that is the only course for me. The only way.