Fork in the Road

Life is full of choices. Do we wake up or sleep in? Do we eat healthy or binge on junk food? Do we ‘give it our all’ at work or settle for ‘just enough’ to get by? With every choice we face our options include some sort of benefit. Good eating and hard work pay off. Others are in vain.

Brethren, now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.

1^st Corinthians 15.12-19

What is true for our physical life is often true for our spiritual life. In terms of our journey to Christ, there are as many choices as with any endeavor. We don’t often realize the options to be spiritual, but often the rearview mirror of life proves otherwise.

Every day we face a fork in the road on the path to Christ. Even our mundane choices often have eternal consequences. If we choose to sleep in and skip our prayers, we may still get to work or school on time, but we have neglected our time with God. It was just one day you say.

One day leads to one week, and the next thing you know, you can’t remember the last time you awoke early enough to say your prayers. The same goes for fasting, reading the bible and all our daily Orthodox disciplines. The fork in the road is always spiritual. It is always life or death.

It isn’t that every decision has eternal consequences. I don’t really think the color choice of the furniture will make or break your journey to heaven. But, if the color choice of the furniture means you spend money for new furniture rather than offering God your tithe, we have a problem.

Now, let’s get back to Saint Paul’s message for today. It has a great impact on our daily choices, even furniture. Too often we make our choices ‘as if’ Christ did not rise from the dead. We live ‘as if’ we will be raised by God and give account for our choices. Too often we live in vain.

Today we have been faced with a fork in the road. Choose wisely. Once we go down the road a bit, it becomes harder to turn back. Just keep focused on what really matters. Christ IS risen. We WILL be raised. Our hope is much more than our daily choices.

Our hope is eternal, and our choices should be also. May our choices today lead us to Christ and not in the wrong direction.