The Road Less Traveled - a Lent Journey for TeensSample

The Way that Leads to Death

Would you choose a way of living if you knew it would only lead to your life falling apart, a life filled with pain? Of course not! But here is the thing, there is a way of life that looks right, sometimes even feels right, but it really is not; it leads to nothing good.

Listen to what Paul says in this scripture. “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time. Repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.” (Gal 5:19-21 MSG)

Reread this scripture. Do you see something of yourself in it? At first, you might feel, no, I don’t relate to any of the above. Read it again. It might be difficult to be honest with yourself, but the first step to humility is admitting the truth and realizing you need Jesus. We cannot do it on our own. You can be honest with Jesus. He loves you and is ready to help you.

This is how we choose the way of humility, Jesus’ way.

Exercise:

Tell Jesus where you need Him, and then pray the repetition prayer. “Jesus, have mercy on me.”