LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Making Crooked Paths Straight
"The crooked ways shall be made straight" (Luke 3:5).
What is a crooked path? The way of righteousness, that is, the way of God, is a straight path. It is the straight path that we have to make straight for our feet. The crooked ways are those in which the access to God is closed. If we read Mark 7 we find there a series of elements that the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees had set up to prevent men from freely approaching God. They had twisted the straight path of the Lord.
What did they teach? That one could not eat bread with unwashed hands; that one had to adhere to the tradition of the elders rather than to the commandment of God, and so on. They tied heavy burdens on men that they themselves did not even want to move with a finger. Thus, they made it difficult for others to have access to God. "If you do not do this, you cannot be righteous, you have no chance before God". The Judaizers, in the time of the apostles, said to the disciples: "If you are not circumcised according to the rite of Moses, you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1). Thus, the way of God, which is straight, was twisted by them.
How many similar things there are at present in Christendom! How many things that hinder men from looking to the Lord and knowing the salvation of God! With them, they close the way to people. Many do not approach the Lord for fear of not being able to keep those traditions and laws. "I cannot follow the gospel because they do not accept smoking (or dancing, or going to horse races, etc.)". By putting the rules before the glorious proclamation of the gospel, the way of God is twisted.
Why not first attract them with the word of the gospel, clear, pure and blessed, and then, when they are converted, when they have obeyed the faith, lead them in the way of holiness? Men have placed requirements that prevent men from coming to know God. These requirements have turned the gospel into a tortuous path, the work of men, not of God.
The Lord said to the Pharisees: "Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven before men: for ye neither go in yourselves, nor suffer them that are entering to go in ... ye go over sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twice as great a son of hell as yourselves" (Matt. 23:13, 15). This word is very relevant today. The Lord said: "I am the way ... And he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (Jn. 14:6, 6:37). Whoever takes this path has no obstacle to touch the heart of God. It is enough to approach him ready to receive.
The prophet had announced very early the glory of this Way: "And there shall be there a highway and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it, but he himself shall be with them: he that walketh in this way, however froward he may be, shall not stray" (Isa. 35:8).