Thus saith the LORD, Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls.

But they said, We will not walk therein…We will not hearken.

Therefore hear, nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth!

Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. [Jeremiah 6:16-19]

Trying to make your own way to God is man’s oldest preoccupation. Adam and Eve did it; their son Cain did it; and all of us have done it at one time or another. But all paths do not lead to God. God was plain about that to Adam and Eve [Genesis 3] and Jesus did not change that. If anything, he reinforced and redefined it in narrower terms.

Father, we are always trying to improve on what you have given us – as if we could do it any better than you did and do! Help me to cling to the ancient Way – to change with the times but never to be changed BY the times.