HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS

“And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there. Lions will not lurk along its course, nor any other ferocious beasts. There will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will walk on it. Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.” Isaiah 35:8-10 (NIV)

This paints a picture of the millennial kingdom. How wonderful to know that one day we will walk on ground that is filled with joy and gladness instead of sorrow and mourning. We won’t have to watch out for the lurking lions waiting to devour us—in fact, no danger will exist.

But, we are not in the millennial kingdom yet. And we must watch out for the evil lurking around us that the world wants to throw at us. What is this evil? Many times the present evil is not something we even consider sinister—jealousy, greed, resentment, guilt, lust, anger…you fill in the blank.

Max Lucado says it best in his book A Love Worth Giving:

Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today's thoughts are tomorrow's actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God's love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others? Paul says absolutely! It's not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We've got to let the good stuff in. ---

So today we must walk along the Higway of Love letting in the good thoughts and taking captive the bad thoughts so we can release them to Jesus. Let him deal with the evil that lurks.

"We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ" (2 Corinthians. 10:5).