Where Are You From?

(Proverbs 16:17 KJV)  The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

This brings to mind what the NASB calls the Highway of Holiness.

(Isaiah 35:8 NAS77)  And a highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.

I tend to think of this highway in terms of where it goes.  If I follow it I will have eternal life.  It is about goals.  There is another side to that journey.  It isn’t just where you are going but where you come from, where you depart.

As I move toward the Celestial City I leave behind the Sloth of Despond and all the other places mentioned in Pilgrim’s Progress.  I leave behind the attitudes and behaviors which were “evil” (7451b).  There is a promise implied here which is explained by the Apostle Paul.

(1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV)  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

So?  We have choices to make.  Right or left?  Participate or abstain?  Good or evil?  The decision we make determines if the road we take is a dead end or an escape route.