Close, but Dead

In 2013 an experienced hiker and retired air force nurse wandered off course on the Appalachian Trail near Maine and was never seen alive again. Two years later, the remains and belongings of Geraldine Largay were found by a US Navy forester. Why did her bucket-list endeavor turn into her last resting place? Simply put, Geraldine had veered off the path to relieve herself.  It seemed harmless, but the dense and uniform forest closed around her and she became disoriented. She survived for 26 days on her own and recorded some of her experiences in a diary found with her.

It was determined that she died due to exposure and dehydration. Sadly, she was only a 30-minute walk from help and lodging, but she just didn’t know the way. This is a sad yet true story, but it reminds me of a sobering spiritual truth. Many people falsely believe that they are good enough or “close-enough” to God. But as Geraldine’s story reveals, one can be close to the path and still miss the life-saving way.  

Many well-meaning people will miss the way to eternal life and remain spiritually dead as a result of the path they are on. “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). In the beginning, God created a perfect world and immortal people to love and live on the earth. But those first people doubted God’s good intentions and defied His one command. The result was a broken relationship with God, death entered the world through their sin, and the world itself was affected by the error of the people God put in charge. Since then, the tendency to wander away from God has been in every person’s heart.  “…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned [missed the mark]” (Romans 5:12). We see the evidence of this wandering nature as every person on earth has rejected God’s way and commands in some way. “There is a way that seems right to a person, but it ends in death” (Proverbs 14:12).

God does not delight in the death of lost people. “[God] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but that all should reach repentance”(2 Peter 3:9). Not only is God patient, but He made the way to be brought back to life: “God so loved the world that He offered up His one and only Son that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God sent His One and Only Son, Jesus. Jesus walked perfectly the path the Father set before Him. Jesus was the only One who could pay our death penalty, because He never disobeyed the Father. Then Jesus proved that He was divine and that He had power to save us, when He defeated death and rose from the tomb.

Let Jesus speak to you from John 14: 6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (emphasis added). Jesus is the Way and He offers to transfer us from our wandering path of death into His eternal life. However, this kind of belief is more than just agreeing with information about Jesus.

Many people will point to a religious act they performed as their assurance of salvation. However, according to James, the brother of Jesus, even demons “believe and shudder” (James 2:19). That kind of belief does not lead to life. So, how do we know if we just acknowledged information about God, like the demons or actually believed with faith in Jesus?

Repentance is proof that shows if you believed with faith.

As Jesus said, in Matthew 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The words “repent” and “repentance” are used 47 times in the New Testament of the Bible. Peter says it clearly in Acts 3:19, “Therefore repent and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” The definition of “sin” is missing the mark. The idea of repentance is literally to change course, to turn away from the ways that lead to death and

turn toward God.

Good works do not save a person, but turning away from our own prideful path shows that we actually do believe Jesus. True faith admits that we were wrong. We thought we could trail-blaze our own path. We were lost and hopeless to find our way back to Life!

Once you understand that you are lost, you can call for help from God based on faith in Jesus. It isn’t based on a perfect set of words, it isn’t a ritual, it isn’t even religion. May God grant you the light to see and confess the darkness that surrounds you. May God grant you the faith to cry out to Him for help. May God give us faith to believe that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And may God give all true Jesus-followers the desire to point others to the Way of life.