A Fork in the Road: Which Way Will You Choose?

We had disappeared into the trails, running alone beneath the trees’ dappled shadows. With swift strides, I chased after the runner ahead of me, following her down the left road at the path’s fork.

For a few moments, I continued down the path until the other runner made a sudden turn. “I think we went the wrong way,” she whispered amidst heavy breaths.

We ran back to the fork and turned onto the other path—the right path. After a blur of hills and grass and rapid heartbeats, I crossed the finish line of my second eighth-grade race.

Last fall, I got the opportunity to run another race on that same course, and something felt redeeming about staying on the correct path the whole time. But when I look back on that race from over a year ago—the race in which I got lost—I can still say that I finished, wrong turn and all.

Ultimately, my wrong turn didn’t prevent me from reaching the finish line—but if I hadn’t turned around in time, I wouldn’t have finished at all. Instead, I would have grown more and more lost.

I started that race with the hope of finding myself at the finish line. You don’t start a race without that hope. You don’t start a journey without the hope of finding your destination when you reach its end.

So, Rebelutionary, where do you hope to find yourself?

Only One Road Leads to the Finish Line

When we start the race of life, we all start out the same way—running in the expanse of this wide world. Taking it all in, seeing what it has to offer. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and…it’s broken.

We push through the brokenness, and along the way we start to carry the weight of a world that needs restoration. We carry the weight of our past, our struggles, our shame….

At some point or another, we all approach that fork in the road. And it’s at that fork that we must decide: What do we really believe?

Do we believe in something more? Do we believe that life’s road has a greater destination?

Do we believe that this race has a finish line, and do we know how to get there?

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”- JOHN 14:6, ESV

The beautiful thing about the gospel is that it contains the freeing promise of a finish line—heaven.

And yet, there’s only one way to get there—Jesus.

When we stand at that fork in the road, looking at the world from different perspectives, staring down all these different paths of belief … we will find only one path that will take us to our greater destination.

That path is the racecourse that was set before us (Heb. 12:1), the racecourse that leads to the finish line.

But if there is only one path—if we’re not free to run down whichever road we wish, believe whatever we want—to get to the finish line … how is that freedom? How is that even running free?

It’s important to remember that we’ve still been given a choice. We’ve still been given the opportunity to stand at that fork in the road and decide what we truly believe.

But do you believe that you’ve been set free?

Freedom—It’s Never Free

Freedom always comes at a price. And the cost of true freedom—freedom from sin and shame and the things that weigh us down—is blood.

Paying the debt for our sin would cost us our lives. But Jesus already paid that price. He took the weight of a world that needed restoration, and He carried it to the cross.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”- JOHN 8:36, ESV

Something that once stood at the end of an impossible road—heaven—has now become within our reach. But we have to believe in the Son of God who will set us free.

The idea that “all roads lead to heaven” stems from a longing for freedom from shame for choosing an inferior road. It’s a way of trying to find freedom and entrance into heaven apart from Christ. It’s an idea that sounds kind and inclusive but is actually harmful and misleading. Because all roads don’t lead to heaven—there is only one right road, all other roads are wrong.

Why run down the wrong road when Christ is standing right here, arms wide open, ready to give us true freedom?

Jesus already endured the cross. He already scorned its shame (Heb. 12:1). And He did it to pay the price, to give you freedom to run down the road of faith through Him.

But are you willing to run down that road?

It’s Never Too Late to Turn Around

Even if you’ve been running down a different road for your whole life, it’s never too late to turn around and choose the road that leads to the finish line.

Even if you’ve been carrying burdens for your whole life, it’s never too late to leave them behind at the foot of the cross.

It’s never too late to truly run free.

This is the power of God’s grace. You don’t have to do anything to earn it.

God’s already waiting for you, with open arms, to take the first step in running back to Him.

He’s waiting for you to be found.

And getting lost, wandering down a wrong road—that doesn’t have to keep you from ever crossing the finish line. Turning around, becoming found—that’s the way to find true freedom.

And it’s the way to run toward the hope of heaven.

Choosing “the Road Less Traveled”

I’ve noticed that today’s generation has wandered down so many wrong roads. Today’s generation is lost, and I am praying they will be found.

My heart hurts for those who haven’t found freedom through faith in Jesus Christ. I’m praying that, today, those of us who have found this hope will shine as lights for those who are still wandering in the dark.

I’m praying for you, reader. I’m praying that your light will shine bright as you run down this road of faith.

This verse from Matthew seems especially important in our time:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”- MATTHEW 7:13-14, NASB

Right now, choosing to live in Christ is choosing to run down the less-traveled road—choose it anyway.

It’s not a road that’s supposed to be easy, but it’s a road that’s guaranteed to bring you freedom and hope.

And the finish line is waiting at the end for those who choose to keep the faith and run with endurance.

The choice you make at that fork in the road is the most important choice you’re going to make in this life.

And choosing the road of faith in Christ is what’s going to make all the difference—not only in this life, but better yet, the next.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

-Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”