Mensa Otabil - There Is a Way (10/23/2025)
Today we look at the final verse in our study of Proverbs chapter 16, and we've examined several things about wisdom and how to practically live the Christian life. We've focused a lot on our choices, our words, and the intents of our hearts, and how we manifest all of that. There's so much to learn from the Book of Proverbs to apply godly principles to our daily lives and to our daily walk with God.
So we look at verse number 25 of Proverbs chapter 16: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." It's one of the verses that I used to quote a lot in my early days as an itinerant preacher, telling people that the ways they were on may seem right and pleasant to them, but they would lead them to death. Of course, you have to say it in a way that makes people think, ponder, and want to change direction in their lives.
This is a very important truth: There is a way that seems right to a man, and of course to a woman too. That means that many times, wrong seems right to us. We don't see what is wrong as wrong, especially when we are the ones doing it. It's very easy when somebody else is doing it for us to point and say that's wrong. But when we become the culprits, when we are the ones doing the wrong thing, when we're the ones feeling jealousy and hatred, and we are the ones who are bitter or want to destroy someone else, all of a sudden our judgment changes. We think we're right; we feel justified. Self -justification, pronouncing ourselves as justified and not guilty, is very easy, and that is why a wrong way may seem right to us.
So, we see in our world these days that a lot of people are on a path that they justify. People are doing some of the most bizarre things, but they justify them. A man says he's a woman; a woman says she's a man, and everybody is justifying it. It seems right to us; it looks like we are our own judges and we're our own determinants of what is right and wrong. So people live their own lives and pronounce themselves right. Unfortunately for us-probably fortunately-we are not the judges of our actions.
There is a supreme judge; His name is God Almighty, and He judges and pronounces verdicts on us. The verse says that the way that seems right to us in the end may be the way of death. And it's not just talking about physical death; physical death is normal to all human beings, and every human being will experience it at some point. That's not what it's talking about here because if it were just about physical death, then the proverb wouldn't make sense. But the death that is spoken about here is eternal separation from God; it is being separated from God, living a life devoid of God. It is living a life that does not have God's peace, God's joy, God's presence in it. This starts here on Earth; death can be experienced here on Earth when God is out of our lives.
When we're just living our own lives, and God is not in them-His peace is not in them, His joy is not in them- we may be dancing in the club, but there is no real joy in our hearts; it's death. But the most serious one is the death that occurs after physical death; it is called eternal separation from God. Whatever form that eternal separation takes, it is not good. So there is a way we live here on Earth that may seem nice to us, but it will lead to eternal separation. I believe that the greatest choice anyone can make in life is to choose to live for God all the days of their lives.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Your way is always true. I choose to follow Your word instead of my opinion. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. I'll catch you again tomorrow; I'm Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.