The Road to Hell

The saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. To this aphorism I’d like to personally add, “it’s not climbing a mountain if you hire a helicopter to drop you off on its peak”. Though intention might be great, aren’t the truths of these maxims the negative reality our world is drowning in today?

The good intentions of not wanting one’s family young people to struggle or go without as much as they did has led so many to deliver on a silver platter the rewards for which they had to soil and toil. A significant majority have wanted their descendants to escape the challenges they had to fight and overcome. Looking at today’s aftermath, we have to wonder and worry if this was good wisdom or bad folly.

It can be argued that success given, but not earned, is not success at all. It is undeserved merit even if it is in the hands of deserving recipients. A $70,000.00 car, freely handed over to a sixteen-year-old, has to that individual only a fraction of the value a $700.00 old beater truck has to a teenager who, himself, earned every penny necessary to secure his treasured set of wheels.

In present day culture, where the vast majority of parents want their children to escape the hardships under which they were burdened, there are diverse opinions as to whether this is prudent or inadvisable. Man can (and does) argue the pros and cons of both sides of this coin. So how do we decipher the better of the two choices? Maybe we should navigate this dilemma by going back to where God calls all Christians to seek and find His wisdom and answers — the Bible.

Within the pages of God’s Word are both hidden and exposed solutions and “soul”utions for all our knowns and unknowns. What insight might be garnered concerning a relentless climb versus the escape of difficulty per a helicopter drop off? For me, personally, one stares me in the face.

Jesus never escaped. He, instead, relied on God’s power and strength to endure and get through all trials and tribulations. Jesus Father’s continual presence and love enabled His son to get through all both heaven and hell put before Him; but God never removed any negative from Christ’s personal journey on earth. Why??? I believe because God knew the greatest success comes by winning a battle not by escaping it.

Let us remember Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. “And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nonetheless, not as I will, but as You will’.” Matthew 26: 39 (ESV) “Again for the second time, He went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, Your will be done’.” Matthew 26:42 (ESV) “So leaving them again, He went away and prayed for a third time, saying the same words again.” Matthew 26: 44 (ESV)

Three times Christ asked His parent, God Almighty, to allow Him to escape the greatest challenge facing Him. So why do we not follow God’s example? Why are we human parents so prone to giving in to our children’s whining, repeated requests? Has God’s show of response to repeated requests totally flown over our heads?

Why do you think God did not remove the challenge facing His Son? Most likely, God didn’t do so because only through this challenge having been met and won could Christ fulfill the purpose of His worldly life. What about the children we call ours? Though on a much lesser scale than Jesus, do we as parents rob our sons and daughters of learning and experiencing fortitude, strength, purpose and conquering tribulations by doing as God did not — removing all struggle from their lives?

Could it be that we need to start following in our Father God’s footsteps and stop removing challenges from our children’s paths? Maybe, instead, we need to begin teaching our young people our presence (not our presents) is always with them and that through overcoming their challenges they can, and will, best become who, and achieve what, God created them to be and do.