The Principle of the Path

Direction, not intention, determines our destination

Watch the service

Pastor Kelvin spoke from the story of the hapless young man in Proverbs 7:6-8:11 who fell for the wiles of a temptress rather than listening to the voice of wisdom. Pastor mentioned that while the lesson of the teacher of Proverbs is certainly a rebuke to the sexual promiscuity of our day, there is a deeper lesson to be learned. So we asked the harder question, “How was the young man thinking in relation to his goal?” We observed that he was thinking short-term. His decision was based on immediate pleasure, not long term results. This choice is a common hazard for all of us – short-term thinking. Wisdom almost always calls for the longer-term perspective.

But why did the young man in the story not recognize the danger? Well, he rationalized. It was “safe” because the woman’s husband was away. The problem, Pastor Kelvin pointed out, is that we often do not connect the dots either to understand that the path we are on will not get us to our chosen destination. It is our daily habits and decisions that determine our path. Our path is leading us somewhere. Is it really leading us where we want to go? Often we rationalize that we are an exception or this time is an exception. But our rationalization does not alter the path we are on.

What we often need is to recognize that we are on the wrong road and change directions, Pastor Kelvin pointed out from Proverbs 8 that wisdom is also calling out to us. It is the voice of God’s Spirit in our soul. It is the verse of Scripture impressed upon our mind. Often it is the advice of a parent or Christian friend or counselor. Usually it is the voice of what we know we ought to do as opposed to what we want to do in the moment. It is more often the leaven of reason than the press of emotion. The question is, “Are we listening?”

Having just attended conference this week, Pastor Kelvin noted that the Methodist Church as a whole is an example. The path we are on as an organization is one that leads to further decline. We need a change of direction. As a local church we have activated an outreach committee to come up with new ideas for reaching out. As a denomination, we are leaning into the cooperative parish idea in new ways.

Pastor Kelvin drew ideas for this message from a book that he highly recommends, “The Principle of the Path” by Andy Stanley.