The Climb

The path before me looks overgrown. Few feet have trampled this way. Yet I know this is the path I must take. Many years ago, when I started my walk, the path was really more like a fire road. The walk was easy and my pace quick. I never worried about straying off the path because the path was wide, the obstacles small, besides I knew the woods so well for it was where I had come from. Though it wasn’t at the time, looking back being a young Christian was easy. I had great desire and few inhibitions. I was freed from the chains, the sin that so easily ensnares. Not that I didn’t stumble, but I knew I was forgiven and that was enough for me. I would walk my path, with my head down and stop and make sure God was still with me every few miles.

As I’ve matured in Christ, my path has narrowed, my walk more labored. The obstacles that I could see from the beginning, the mountains in the distance, are now right before me. So what has changed? Why do I struggle more today than I did a decade ago? Why has my path narrowed and steepened. A decade age my sins bothered me and I feared the Devil hunting me down. Now my sins destroy me but Devil is scared of me. Now I know the mere thought, the mere desire, is the sin that kills, not the act itself.

Gazing into the wood is more than distraction. I must press on toward my summit. The path is narrow and going is slow but I’m much stronger now than I was on that fire road. I no longer sway under the weight of my load, I don’t need the forgiving width of the road anymore. The strength to climb the mountain was built by climbing the little steps along the way, when the road was more forgiving. I’m ready, otherwise God would not have put me on this path. As the Apostle Paul taught, when I do what I do not want to do, it is not me but the sin in me. I am separate from sin, now. If I tell the Devil to flee, he will. Not that I am god but God is in me. He directs my steps on this narrow path. I no longer walk for miles then look to see if God is still with me. I wait on the Lord. He has been faithful and ever-present. Though I can’t see the where this path will twist and turn. Though I can’t see what lay around the corner. Though I can’t see the traps the Devil has placed on my path. I am not worried.

I am not worried because the path is already there. Someone has been here before and knows the path to the top of the mountain. The path has been blazed by the only one that could. It has been cut into the wood for me, and me alone. That is why it seems overgrown. Only one other person has walked this path and He has come back to get me up this mountain. I will follow him. Even though I am weak. For the Lord is my strength.