While traveling along life’s beaten path we climb Golgotha’s hill,
And as we gaze in wonder, the world becomes so still.
We see a place of execution where men would kill God’s voice,
For God has granted one and all the freedom of this choice.
They did not care to hear His truth; they did not share His view,
They would believe their souls are saved by simply what they do.
Our path leads straight to the top, to bloody wooden pole,
No worldly treasure will you find no shiny pot of gold.
But on this tree of scorn you’ll see God’s Love was manifest,
And one must but embrace it and their evil sins confess.
The path it forks right at this spot, its broad as it descends,
The other way is straight and narrow; you’ll leave behind some friends.
And if you choose to go this route, this cross you now must bear,
For you will be Christ’s body and His pain we all shall share.
The other path is brightly lit by pleasure and world wealth,
But skies seem dark when we embark with our cross and deny self.
But the neon it fades so quickly on that overcrowded path,
And at the end of that lonesome road is nothing but God’s wrath.
But peace and joy we shall enjoy as we climb up God’s Great Mountain,
For we’ve been cleansed from all our sin from His own Holy Fountain.
And when we leave this world of woe with all its fleeting pleasure,
We enter in God’s Promised Land filled with treasure without measure.
Now all of those who chose broad road and would not bear the cross,
The things of naught with money bought are like them also lost.
Our kingdom is eternal and held with God’s own hand,
We traded what is temporary for what’s forever grand.
So be not overtaken by the charming of the snake,
For his desire is to lure you into his fiery lake.
Now God has a great home for us and no place can compare,
And if we bear the cross as Christ, great joy we all shall share.
Tertius
Whoever does not take up their cross
and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds their life will lose it,
and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10:38-39
A note about “The Transient Burden of Eternal Rewards”: Oh for scales to weigh our troubles against what God has prepared for us.