KEEPING ON THE OLD PATH

 

Me, Davy, Jay, Evy, Wayne.  Grandpa in the background -- Grandma and Grandpa's house 1962

I had four siblings. All five of us stayed on the old path. We were obedient to our parents, attended school and church faithfully, and graduated from college. As is often the case, however, life became more complicated after adulthood. It was after college that we didn't necessarily make our parents happy. I won't go into detail, but after we all married, our relationships became difficult at times. Even so, we worked hard to keep the lines of communication open and to care for our parents in their old age. The Lord sustained us through every challenge. Along the way we experienced heartbreaking losses. Evy died of cancer in the middle of those years, and Jay passed away from diabetic shock two years after Dad was gone. Through it all, God's faithfulness carried us.

That brings me to an important question: Why should we stay on the old path? According to Voddie Baucham, in his sermon Three Trees, the beauty of the gospel reveals truth, beauty, and goodness while demonstrating God's power to transform lives and cultures.

History provides powerful evidence of that truth. I have noticed that countries ruled by Communism eventually stop prospering and freedom begins to disappear. Right now in South Korea, former U.S. Ambassador Morse Tan has been unable to return to the United States and to his wife and four children after South Korea imposed a travel exit ban on him. To me, this is an indication that Communist influence is slowly creeping into South Korea.

We can also see changing ideas here at home. In recent primary elections, several Democratic Socialists won nominations and will run as Democratic candidates against Republicans in the general election. Their platform is lunacy:

Underlying many of these cultural changes is a deeper philosophical issue. University of Texas professor J. Budziszewski has spent decades writing about ethics, conscience, and natural law. A former atheist who converted to Catholicism more than two decades ago, he has written more than twenty books, including The Pandemic of Lunacy. In discussing what he calls thirty modern myths, he argues that at the root of many of them is the desire for God not to be God—and for us to take His place. In other words, we want to determine our own standards of right and wrong, redefine marriage to suit ourselves, and declare that reality is whatever we choose it to be.

Budziszewski points out that there have always been times in history when societies were steeped in immorality. The difference today, he says, is striking. In the past, people often admitted what they were doing was wrong but simply chose not to care. Today, vice often claims the moral high ground. It says, "You are evil for calling this vice." That is a very different—and very troubling—situation.

For all of these reasons, I believe the old path is still the best path. It is the path that honors God, strengthens families, preserves freedom, and provides a firm foundation for future generations. While the world constantly searches for something new, God's timeless truth has never needed improvement.

Jeremiah 6:16a Thus says the Lord:“Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.