Our Guidebook

When I was in high school, I loved to go downhill skiing at the Sunrise Ski Resort in Arizona. The resort had three mountains with plenty of different ski trails. I was just a beginner, but very adventurous. There were three levels of ski runs: (1) green — for beginners, (2) blue — for intermediate, and (3) black — for advanced skiers. In my excitement on one trip, I forgot to get a map of the ski trails. I was happily going down one of the green trails, winding around the mountain with delight, when something looked strange.
Suddenly, I came to a cliff that looked like it was pointing straight down hill. Fortunately, I made it down the hill, not on skis, but on my bottom. I found out later that the green trail I had gone down turns into a black/advanced trail called “Cartwheel Hill.” Once I saw a story on 20/20 about three teenagers who got lost an entire night during a snow storm because they went off a designated ski trail. They miraculously were saved the next day from freezing to death.
As I think about these skiing incidents, there is a definite spiritual application. I may have had good intentions about going down an easy ski trail, but if I do not have a map, no one else is to blame. I suffer the consequences. In life, good intentions are not enough. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Many people claim that it does not matter what you believe as long as you are a good person. But, our life is molded by our faith. If light and truth are within our reach and we neglect it, we essentially reject it. We are choosing darkness over light.
God has given us light through the Bible, our guidebook, that we may know the truth and to understand God’s law for our lives. When there is an opportunity to know the will of God for us, ignorance is no excuse for error or sin. It is our duty and responsibility to find the truth for ourselves through the Holy Scriptures, and to obey God’s commandments. When the young lawyer came to Jesus with the inquiry, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus replied saying, “What is written in the law? How readest thou?”
The answer to our deepest needs is found in the Bible. Our preconceptions or opinions about the way to live are not enough. Our life on this earth and for eternity depends upon the decisions we make now. If we disregard God’s Word we will surely enter the wrong paths in life. Take time to read and study the Bible. It is the only true guidebook for our lives.
Ly Lan Nguyen