The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-06-10
The Two Ways
Lesson for June IL, 1860


Lesson for June IL, 1860
THE NOTION that you can
find out what is right by seeing
how many people do it, is not
an idea you can find in the
Bible. If what the majority of
people do makes anything right,
then you are really deciding
right and wrong by voting on
! it. The truth is. the majority of
people are wrong at least as
often as they are right. Jesus
believed that in his day, at any
rate, the majority was on the
wrong road. There are two ways
or roads through this world, he
said, one is broad and the other
narrow. One is easy to find, the
other you cannot find so easily.
What is more, the broad road
is popular and the narrow road
is not. But the real question to
ask about any road is: Where
does it go? Where shall l land
if I follow it?
To Life Or To Destruction?
Life and destruction are op-
posites. You would think any
one could see that. But to Judge
from the way many people act,
it is plain that they think the
same road leads both to de-
struction and to life. Many a
man walks the broad road with
plenty of company, knowing Cor
at least having heard that the
road ends in destruction. But he
thinks Life is a WaySide stop,
indeed he rather pities the poor
fools that took the narrow rocky
road to life, when it is so much
pleasanter to take the broad
road. The truth is, on the con-
trary, that you can't reach
Life by the road that goes to
Destruction. You have to choose.
Discipline
Why is it that the road to life
is sparsely Travelled and the
road to destruction crowded?
1t isn't that people prefer de-
Struction. It's the road that at
tracts them. Let's look at one
attractive feature (that is to say
one that does attract unthink-
ing travelerS) or the broad high
way. It is like the broad con-
crete highways that cross our
nation. Wider and faster roads
are being built all the time; but
the accident rate keeps going
up. One reason why the broad
road is preferred is that you
don't need to use your brakes
on it very often. There are no
Stop-lights on a throughWay for
most of its distance. But forget
ting about brakes has its dan
gers. There used to be a stretch
of road in North Carolina, about
equally divided between a pretty
straight shoot through low hills
and a very crooked steep climb
up the Blue Ridge. For years
OIL end there was not a fatal
accident on the narrow, steep
and crooked part of the road
but any accidents on the
straight stretch to the east
Going up the mountain or down
drivers were careful. But once
down., they would let the brakes
go and Zoom off-nlany of them
to early death. So it is for per
sons CT for nations: life with
out brakes goes swiftly to de-
stluction. And the name for the
brake we have to apply to our
selves is called Discipline.
As Important As Steering
There arc three things a car
must have, at the very least. II
must have power to move, it
must have a steering mocha
nisn that works, and it must
have brakes so that the driver
can slow down or stop. So it
is on the roads of life. The
traveller must have power, he
must be able to steer, and he
must be able to hold himself
down. Brakes are every bit as
important as carburetor or
steering shaft. So in the life OF
every man; without discipline
he is running just as great a
risk as if he had no driving
power at all. Discipline means
being able to choose what is
unpleasant, if it is right. Dis
cipline means loving yourself
last. It means, in the first place,
choosing a road because it leads
to Life and not because it is
easy.
No one would venture to say
whether today, as in Jesus day.
the wrong road is crowded more
than the other. But sometimes
one wonders. A nation made up
mostly of people who never say
No to themselves, a nation made
of citizens who always want