Like many of us today, the two young men in this story had gadgets with technology to help them get where they wanted to go without much fuss or worry or need to look at a map. In fact, to plan a flight across the country didn’t take much more effort for Mike than sitting at the computer for a few minutes and looking at the different options available.
He discovered that airline tickets to a place so far away were rather expensive. Then he found a very good deal if he took a flight out of a bigger city which was 150 miles away from where he lived. Calculating the time to drive that distance and the cost of fuel, he felt it was still well worth it to take a plane from there.
He asked his brother Steve to drive him to the airport so he wouldn’t have to leave his car there the whole time he was gone. They left quite early in the morning as the traffic in the bigger cities is often heavy and slow-moving during prime hours. Mike gave Steve his GPS to use. He had just bought it from someone online a few weeks before and was glad to see that it worked well. They got to the airport easily and in plenty of time.
Steve said good-bye to his brother and then got ready to make the three-hour trip back. The GPS has a feature that lets you choose “home” for a destination. That was just where Steve wanted to be as he had things to do and needed to get back. So he set the GPS for home and checked the time of arrival which was exactly the time he figured it would be. That was good as he wanted to have a couple of hours at home before an appointment in the evening.
Everything was going as planned, but there was one problem. The GPS had belonged to another person and the address for their home was not the same place Steve lived. It was not even close. Steve was going the wrong way and getting farther from home!
All of us are on a journey right now. You may not be on a plane or in a car or train but you are on the journey of life. There are only two roads: the road to Heaven and the road to Hell.
We all are born into a world of sin. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). But the Lord Jesus died on the cross to save you from a lost eternity if you will put your trust in Him and believe He died for you. Then you will be on the road to Heaven.
Steve drove for many miles not realizing he was getting farther and farther away from where he thought he was going. You may think you are going the right way and not even be aware you are lost in your sins and on your way to Hell.
It was nearly three hours later, when Steve should have been home, that he began to realize nothing looked familiar. After stopping to check his location, he was shocked to find he was now 300 miles from home! What a sinking feeling he had, besides being very tired from a short night of sleep. He thought he was doing everything right but he hadn’t stopped to consider just where he was going. He reset the GPS to go to the right place and turned around to start the long trip back.
You too can turn around if you are going the wrong way. The Bible tells us in Matthew 7:13,13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (Matthew 7:13) “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” The next verse says, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” It’s always easier to drift along with the crowd, but where are they taking you?
GPS isn’t the only source of wrong instructions. Friends can be just as unreliable, as you’ll see if you continue on to read Bad Directions.