Zeal Without Knowledge
It was sometime in the fall of 1974 when I drove to Boston, to New England Deaconess School of Nursing to pick up my sister, Pam, and some of her friends to drive them back to Maine for a long weekend break. I had made the trip a few times before without incident, but this time was different.
We left Boston in the rearview mirror and headed north on what I was convinced was I-95 when suddenly none of the towns I normally saw on the highway signs looked familiar. Something was wrong. I pulled over, looked at my map, and discovered my error. I was NOT on I-95. I was many miles west on I-93 heading into New Hampshire!
The girls all laughed and took it well. I was mortified as I tried to find the easiest way back to I-95 north. The moral of this story is this – just because one is confident in one’s chosen direction, does not mean that it is the correct one. Proverbs 19:2 says, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”
In my zeal to impress Pam’s girlfriends and take them skillfully back home to Maine, I took the wrong exit after the Tobin Bridge, hence our excursion into New Hampshire. This is a humorous story, but for someone to make the wrong turn in life can be disastrous, and in the end lead to hell. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death.”
Friend, may I ask you, “Are you sure that the road you are on in life is going to lead you to life with God in heaven?” How do you know? How did you come to your decision?
Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “…for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
If you have never given this matter serious thought, isn’t it time you did? Your eternal soul is at stake! Don’t make the mistake of so many and gamble your eternal destiny on the latest movie or best seller. Don’t be wise in your own eyes and trust in your own instincts. You only get one chance to get this right! Examine the source of your confidence. Is it trustworthy? Are you sure?