If you want to live out God’s higher purposes for your life, then you need to walk on the higher road, for it is only there that God can do the most through you. “…lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God” (Ephesians 4:1 NLT).
The high road is the right road, and it’s the only road that you should be on. At the end of your days, the Lord will evaluate all that you have done, both good and bad, and what will He find when He evaluates your life? It matters eternally with what we do.
The rewards in heaven are never dependent on how people treat you, but on how you treat them. “For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life” (2 Corinthians 5:10 GNT).
The high road is a hard road because we must often walk on it alone. Others around us do not think they need to treat us well and justify the harm they do to us. But if you’re on the high road, you cannot act like those who are not.
The high road is the lonely road, but take it anyway. “You can enter true life only through the narrow gate. The gate to hell is very wide, and there is plenty of room on the road that leads there. Many people go that way. But the gate that opens the way to true life is narrow. And the road that leads there is hard to follow. Only a few people find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 ERV).
The Lord Jesus modeled for us what it means to walk on the high road. When He preached, He always called us to a higher way of living. Much of what He called us to do seems impossible, but He meant every word that He ever spoke.
Don’t ignore the hard verses, but only seek the Lord that He would help you to live them. Jesus commanded, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48 ESV).
Jesus knew we could never walk on the high road on our own power. That is why He asked the Father to send us the Holy Spirit, who could help us do what we could never do on our own. Our potential is only found with the Spirit of God helping us.
You can live higher than you are if only you’d let the Spirit of God help you. “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves” (Galatians 5:16 NLT).
We sometimes think we are not being controlled by our flesh until someone gets under our skin. It amazes me how quickly my flesh rises the moment someone mistreats me. Let the Holy Spirit convict you into a higher life as the lower life tries to pull you down.
If you want to be nearer to God, then you must walk on a higher road. “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray” (Isaiah 35:8 NKJV).
Our hearts are so deceptive that we will justify walking on the lower road to give those who come against us a taste of their own medicine. But when we do that, we are allowing these other people to draw us away from the path the Lord would have us be on.
Don’t follow your heart, follow Jesus. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NLT).
On your own, you’re going to fail. But you don’t have to fail, so long as the Spirit of God is within you. You can either be led by the flesh or led by the Holy Spirit, and the choice is always up to you. What we are led by is our choice.
If we are not led by the Spirit, we are headed for trouble. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:13-14 NKJV).
When people come against you and put you down or slander you, learn to ask the Lord to help you respond in love. Jesus said to love our enemies and pray for them, and when we do, we will be walking on the high road.
When you pray for those who are against you, you’ll be on God’s side. Jesus said, “…You should love the people who want to hurt you. If people want to give you pain, pray for them. Pray that God would help them. If you live like this, you will show that you really are children of your Father above…” (Matthew 5:44-45 EASY).
The more you ask the Lord to help you, the more He will. He can cause you to respond to people who are against you in ways you thought you never could. You will feel less hurt and less frustrated and instead be filled with the peace of God.
It’s impossible to be offended when you’re full of grace. “…Let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28 NKJV).
Learn to think eternally, with your eyes on heaven and not on those things here on earth. In a million years, the antics of those who were against will be forgotten, but the faithfulness of the few will be remembered. Live a life of faithfulness for that will last forever.
If you want to live higher, you must think higher. “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]” (Colossians 3:2 AMP).
As you grow in the Lord and let His life rule in yours, people will start to take notice. It’s not that you’re being treated better than anyone else, but you won’t be offended by mistreatment from others. When your eyes are on God, His peace will be in you.
You will have peace when God has you. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).
You can walk on the high road. You can treat others better than they treat you. You can have peace that is unshakable. You can be an example for others to follow. All you have to do is ask the Holy Spirit to help you and then let Him. Do that right now.
Start living your life the way you think others should be living theirs. “So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 AMP).
Blessings to you always,
Paul Balius