Finding the Road to Freedom – Today’s Youth Devotion

Finding the Road to Freedom

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 God is faithful . … When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it. 1 Corinthians 10: 13

PICTURE YOURSELF WALKING down a road. The scenery is stunning, the weather is great. Then you see a fork in the road. Your map shows that the road to the right is the correct road. But that narrow road heads straight uphill and looks grueling. The road to the left is wide and runs downhill. So which do you pick?

If you want to honor your Lord, you’ll choose the road to the right that leads away from evil. Walking this tougher road takes faith that says, “Regardless of what Satan tells me, regardless of how appealing sin seems, regardless of how easily I can keep my wrong quiet, I choose to follow the right road.”

Take sex, for example. Left-hand road thinking says, “Any time, any place, any person available.” Right-hand road thinking says, ”I’m confident that if I don’t com­promise physically, God will build character into my life and provide the right per­son for me to marry.”

As you walk the path of life, you will stand at many forks in the road. Each time you have to make a choice. The first choice is always the hardest. Each time after that it gets easier. It’s like training for a marathon. The first run is a killer, but as a runner builds strength and endurance, runs become faster and farther. Only after months of training is a runner ready for a 26.2-mile race.

But what would happen if a marathon runner flopped on the couch, scarfed junk food, and hung out with friends who made fun of running? Spiritual laziness, spiri­tual junk food (like too much TV with no Bible reading), and unspiritual friends who mock godly things will all shrink your spiritual endurance. If you want to honor Jesus Christ to the last step of the race, first be a man or woman of faith. Second, stay spiritually fit so you will have the stamina to keep saying no.

One of the best ways to keep on God’s road is to learn to walk away from situa­tions you know will press you to compromise. Think about it: If you know you’re in for a bad situation, why go there? Some parties are just asking for trouble. So are places like your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s home when parents are away. And some possessions, like an R-rated video, can be killers in your walk with Christ.

Think hard when you reach a fork in the road. And pick God’s path.

REFLECT: How determined are you to pick God’s path? What makes choosing the right road hard?

PRAY: Talk to God now about some of the danger areas in your life. Ask him to build up your resistance to those temptations.