The straight paths of the Lord

Acts 13:10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

When Paul confronts the magician who hinders the gospel being preached, Paul uses these hard words on him. However, for a meditation we have a lesson that if we make the ways of the Lord crooked, we may receive that identity Paul gives. The important factor for us to understand is that the ways of the Lord are straight and there is no short cut. We may think that being forgiven by grace is a short cut and an easy path to the Lord. But, this path is not crooked or stolen, but a heavy price was paid and given to us. All we have to do is honor the path and the one who laid it.

In all the four gospels we read a prophesy about John the Baptist that he proclaims that we should straighten the ways of the Lord (Mathew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23). This is written so strongly because of the highest importance the message has. If we read Mark 1:2,3 together we will have a better picture. It says that John will prepare the way for the Lord by instructing others to prepare His ways and make them straight. It is clearly our responsibility to define what the ways of the Lord are for this world. We know that Jesus is the corner stone and the apostles and prophets too are the foundation. But the building can still be built as a person wishes. It is important for us to understand that the corner stone was laid with a strong purpose but we are building the temple deviating and bringing disgrace to the Lord.

We have a very similar responsibility like John the Baptist, to prepare the way of the Lord in our families, church, work place etc. John did this job very perfectly by initiating repentance among the people. The baptism that he gave (similar to baptism our family heads and pastors give) is a sign of repentance. When there is repentance, the Lord Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire towards salvation. We have this job with us where we are responsible. We are not here to comfort others at all times. John was very much critical towards the Pharisees and Sadducees by calling them brood of vipers. He did that because of the wrath that is going to come. We at most times know where our children are heading to, but still keep comforting them.

Hebrews 12:12,13 explains the goodness of walking in straight paths. Our joints would not be weakened but they will be healed because our paths are straight. Paul in those verses continues to emphasize peace with everybody and ensure that others should receive grace as much as we do. The straight path of righteousness has a burden towards others to receive glory. This burden is on others so that they will not fail like Esau losing their salvation for simple needs.

The magician in this incident opposed Paul and Barnabas because his false prophecies will become ineffective. The problem with him is that he gave priority to his personal needs than the gospel and so, Paul had to confront him. This can happen to any person who follows Christ that to justify ourselves we will create new doctrines that allows us to sin. The path to glory is very straight that we believe Jesus and through his death and resurrection, we are cleansed after repentance. After this salvation, we are expected to follow Jesus in his sufferings and sacrifice so that we would be able to deny ourselves and through our love we will be able to serve others and come to God, the Father. This is the grace that was given to us. Any other path than this one is a crooked one. This includes paths that just provide honor or experiences alone.  The criticality here is that we are not deviating from the path but making a crooked path for others to follow and fall in.

Psalms 5:8 is a prayer to the Lord to lead David in the Lord’s righteousness, because of the enemies. David requests the Lord to make His paths straight. It is straight forward that the Lord’s righteousness is the only straight path for us to follow. We have to let the Lord lead us. We know in Psalms 23:3,4 we know that the Lord leads in paths of righteousness and this path includes the shadow of the valley of death. Expecting comfort at all times is not a straight path. David prays that this path is needed because the enemies are full of lies and destruction. To escape destruction through the lies the enemies present to us, we should choose the path that leads to our Lord. The bible teaches us in Proverbs 3:6 that we should acknowledge Him in our ways. Acknowledge means to accept His presence during in our pursuit.

Amen.