If you go to Bolivia and to the capital city of La Paz you can travel on a road to Coroico in the Yungas region. The road climbs to a staggering 5 kilometres above sea level into the heart of the Andes mountain range then plummets into the Amazon jungle. The area is subject to extreme weather conditions which make driving hazardous on the road that claims between 200 and 300 lives every year. Barely 3 metres wide and coated with slime and mud the road is littered with hairpin bends along the unprotected cliff face.
One journalist recounts that as he was travelling along the road they spotted a large group of people standing behind a broken down bus. In the thick cloud the driver had crashed into the back of a truck, the impact had shunted the steering column into the driver, severing his legs. The crowd watched helplessly as the man bled to death as no ambulance could make it up the road to rescue him. Further down the road the journalist passed a spot where a set of fresh tyre tracks carried on as the road went round a bend, the tracks heading off the end of the cliff into the void beneath.
It has been called the most dangerous road in the world.
Jesus described life as being a journey on a road. He taught that there are two ways to live – on the right road, or on the wrong road. The right road leads to eternal life in heaven, the wrong road to eternal judgement. The right road typifies a life lived for God, a Christian life, a life which is lived in the knowledge that it’s sin has been dealt with – paid for, forgiven – and that however tough life is, it is being lived for a purpose – for God’s purpose – and at the end is a great destination.
The wrong road typifies the world. The road is so popular that it is more like a motorway than a narrow mountain track. It is life without God. However easy it may seem, it eventually shows its true colours when you reach its dreadful destination. But then, of course, it is too late to turn around.
You may think Jesus’ teaching somewhat harsh with the talk of judgement and hell. But what is the alternative? Let sin go unpunished? No. God is pure, holy and perfect. He cannot let wrong go unpunished. He must deal with it. He does so by keeping heaven free of any wrong. “But” – says the natural mind – “we are all sinners, we all do wrong – what chance is there for any of us?” The other road. Jesus taught clearly that there is a chance to leave the world’s road, to leave a life without God. In so doing He deals with your sin (forgives it) and sets you on the path to heaven.
And what of the punishment for your sin? For all those who leave the road of the world and trust in God by faith, their sin is paid for by Christ on the cross – where God punished His own perfect son – for your sin and mine. Jesus is the gate – the narrow gate – that when entered through offers forgiveness for sin and a chance to live a life God’s way, and head towards a heavenly destination.
Matthew 7 v 13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
There are two roads. God’s road – the road that leads to life – and the world’s road - the road that doesn’t lead to eternal life. Which road would you rather be on?
It is not a case of the most dangerous road in the world, but rather the most dangerous road is the world. Get off it now whilst you still can, enter the road of life, enter through Christ.
