It doesn't take long to see where people really walk. I've seen plenty of new or redone public paths that you can tell people put a lot of work into. Still, the concrete and foliage don't keep pedestrians from creating their own worn paths that go where they really want to be. Yes, developers should look at those paths first to establish more useful walkways. But doesn't that show us something about who we are? We want to go where we want to go.
The thing about those worn paths, though, is that not everyone who walks them created them. Sometimes, you just step into what's already there. Someone else cut through the grass first. Enough people followed, and now it feels like the obvious way to go.
The apostle Paul says something similar about our lives. We were "dead in our transgressions," following the ways of the world just like everyone else. Not always because we were choosing disobedience, but because we stepped into patterns that were already worn in. Habits, assumptions, ways of living that felt normal. We walked in them because they were already there.
But God!
Paul reminds us that God does not stand away from us, waiting for us to find a better path. The Lord steps right into the ones we're already walking. In God's mercy, God makes us alive with Christ. Not because we paved a new way, but because of God's grace.
Finally, Paul says we are God's workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. In other words, God isn't just pulling us off the wrong path. God is leading us into a new one shaped by divine purpose.
So, today, pay attention to the paths you're on. Not just the ones you chose, but the ones you inherited. And remember that God is still making a new way.
Stay blessed...john
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