There are two ways to live. You can follow God’s perfect way as revealed in His Word, or you can subscribe to the wisdom of man. Every single one of us will choose one of these two ways to plot their course through life. Choosing God means abandoning your life to Jesus. It’s a path of surrender and few will go this way. The alternative is to rely on the wisdom of man.
This path is wide and you’ll find plenty of company along the way to share your journey. Neither way will be free of struggle. Life in this world comes with a heavy dose of pain, discouragement, and defeat. The choice between the two ways to live, then, comes down to your motivation, not whether one path is easier than the other.
Knowing there are two ways to live, let’s take a quick overview of each. First, God’s perfect law. It will be no surprise this is the better strategy by far. God is your Creator and designer. No one knows you like He does, and no one loves you like He does. God’s laws are in place to protect us, guide us, and to shape us to look more like Him. They are not restrictive for the sake of being cruel, but rather in order to keep us on the right path. When we embrace His Word, we experience a richness to life that we could never imagine. To be right with God is to be at peace in one’s soul. It is to live as He carefully crafted us to live.
Of the two ways to live, the choice to follow the wisdom of man is the far more prevalent, but also the far deadlier option. Violence, war, injustice, greed, and apathy fill the pages of our history. The brightest minds, no matter how well-intentioned, are all ruined by the cumulative effects of generations of sin. The devil’s evil influence permeates every crevice of culture. Every promise of a better life falls flat. Nothing ever gets better because we live in a broken system on a groaning planet. The wisest of men is a fool compared to the matchless and infinite wisdom of God.
The choice seems so clear, but still so many choose the wide path and the wisdom of men (Matthew 7:13-14). Why? They love their sin more than they love their Creator. Christian, we of all people understand this truth. Are you willing to trade eternity with Jesus for the momentary pleasures and treasures of this world? Know this: you cannot love God if you love the things of this world (1 John 2:15).
You must choose between the two ways to live. You can’t live a little of one and a little of the other. The paths are mutually exclusive. You can start down the path of man’s wisdom and later choose to follow God, but you do so at your own peril. You have no guarantee of your next breath. What if you wait too long? And why would you desire to waste so much of your life? The way of God leads to life, the way of man only to death. There are two ways to live, but only one leads to life.