Near Church, Far from Christ (Proverbs 21:16)
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Proverbs 21:16
One who wanders from the way of good sense
will rest in the assembly of the dead.
Solomon, Solomon, Solomon. O how I wonder when you wrote this verse and I wonder if it ever came to mind near the end of your life.
For those who may not know, Solomon is the author of this verse, the wisest man (not named Jesus) to walk this earth, and yet he also wandered from the way of good sense near the end of his life because of his love for women.
Whether or not we believers will see Solomon in heaven one day remains a mystery, but what's not a mystery is that if the wisest man can drift, what does that say about us?
What we’re seeing here is that the path we walk AND remain on is everything.
Jesus said in His sermon on the mount ‘small is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life’. Narrow not because God is stingy, but because the way is a Someone—Jesus Himself. Nowadays there are some who preach that the gate is indeed small — only the blood of Jesus will do — but after that the way is wide…‘Do whatever you want!’.
Friends this can’t be. Jesus said ‘If anyone were to come after me let him first deny himself and take up his cross daily’ ‘daily and follow after’ Him (Luke 9:23). Every deep love narrows your options. Say “yes” to a spouse, you say “no” to a thousand maybes. The daily cross isn’t punishment; it’s the shape love takes.
God never intended us to pray a prayer of salvation and then do whatever we want. We can’t wander from the truth or from the blood shed on the cross because that’s our life!
Grace doesn’t widen the path; grace gives you a new heart to walk it.
Now, of course we all wander from God at times even as Christians, but this is implying eternal separation. And I do think it makes us wonder if one can lose their salvation, given how practical it sounds.
One who wanders from the way of good sense
will rest in the assembly of the dead.
But that’s not the case. This is more the reality of those who look wise and look churchy—near Christian things—but aren’t yet united to Christ.
1 John 2:19 says ‘They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.’
It’s possible there are some among you in your churches and Christ-centered communities (and some of us listening today) that are in fact not actually Christians. They might say they are, they might think they are, but they are not. If that’s you, the invitation isn’t “try harder on a narrow road.” It’s “take His hand.” Jesus doesn’t just point to the way—He is the way, and He walked into the “assembly of the dead” and out again so you don’t have to stay there.
So where are you today? On the narrow road? Have you drifted far away from the narrow road? Do you know someone who has?
Let’s pray in light of this all today.
