Imagine the nicest place you have been. The woods after a fresh dusting of snow? Paris? Grand Canyon? Vegas? Beach? At this moment, if you asked my two year-old son, he would probably say Target for a puppy cookie! For my family as a whole it would probably be Disney World, though. Wherever it is, multiply it exponentially and that is what life lived in relationship with God now and into eternity in Heaven can be.
How do we get there? The way to Disney from my town in Northwest Florida is four roads, east on I-10 with a pitstop at BusyBee gas station of course, south on I-75, Florida Turnpike South, and I-4 West to Disney World Exits. Theoretically anyone can go to Disney but you have to take the right roads or you could end up in the Atlantic Ocean or maybe Lake Okeechobee! Anyone can have a relationship with God now and walk with Him into eternity in Heaven but there are specific roads to travel. Easily enough, we find the roads stacked neatly in a row in the book of Romans. I’ve heard them called the Romans Road. Reminds me of the munchkins song to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, “Follow the yellow brick road.” Let’s follow the Romans Road . . .
Our first road is the starting point. To Disney mine is I-10. To God the starting point is Romans 3:23 NASB, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Thayers and Smith say the word for sin here means to miss the mark. God is perfectly holy, not a single flaw or speck of evilness anywhere in His person. Not a single lie, not a drop of selfishness, not one stolen pencil, not an ounce of envy, perfectly perfect in every way (like Mary Poppins but better). To be in relationship with Him now and into Heaven, He requires us to be perfect just like Him. Only perfect people go to Heaven! Sin is when we as humans miss the mark of His perfection. Some of us miss the mark with a few dart throws of life choices while others have unleashed a whirlwind of missed darts but we have all missed and sinned. If you think you’re better than most, read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Our starting point is sin.
Second road is a dark one, headed south on I-75, Romans 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death”. I work a full time job selling heath insurance and at the end of each month I receive a paycheck. I put in the work and deserve the check. When we sin, we deserve death as our wage. In the here and now death is daily not being allowed to be in relationship with God and in eternity death is forever not being allowed to be in relationship with God and punished in Hell. There is no wiggle room here. A few misses are still misses and deserve death because we are not comparing ourselves with other human sinners, we are comparing ourselves with perfect God and we all fall miserably short.
The sun comes up on the third road, we’re on the Florida Turnpike South, Romans 6:23b, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus Christ came to the earth He created, in a sense becoming an ant in his own ant farm, and lived a perfect, spotless, flawless, sinless life. He hit the mark of God’s perfection. Instead of deservedly stepping into Heaven, because He alone has been perfect, He took the sins of the whole world on his shoulders and paid the price for them all by dying on the cross. Your sins and mine drove him to die. Three days later he rose from the dead and now offers mankind the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Many people know this and have journeyed on the Romans Road to this point but stop here. They are hanging out on the Turnpike! “Wow, Jesus must love me. Good job, Jesus. Happy Easter! Here’s a Cadburry egg! Now I’ll live my life the way I want to.”
The fourth road is mandatory. You can go up and down the Florida Turnpike, enjoy the palm trees and get glimpses of Disney with billboards, but until you take I-4 to the Disney exits you aren’t in Disney! Romans 10:9-10 gives the exit to God, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” We are imperfect sinners deserving death. Jesus paid the price for our sins. He’s alive today and asks us to confess Him as Lord and believe in what He did for us. It’s saying we know we are hopeless sinners, we believe and put our faith in what He did for us in death and resurrection, and we confess He is Lord (elsewhere this is called “repentance”) – boss, king, ruler, leader – of our lives from now on.
Finally, we arrive in Disney and enjoy Disney for as long as our stay is. With God, at this point, we are saved and can walk in peace with God everyday and into eternity in Heaven. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Forever. Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
For those between I-10 sin and the Florida Turnpike of the story of Jesus, I implore you, take the exit to Disney with God! Believe what He did for you and confess Him as Lord of your life. For those in Disney with God, remember where you came from and be forever thankful for this costly gift of a relationship with God you have and lead others down the Romans Road to God.
References:
https://www.gotquestions.org/Romans-road-salvation.html accessed April 3, 2023
https://www.kingdommagictravel.com/disney-destinations/walt-disney-world/driving-directions-walt-disney-world/ accessed April 3, 2023
Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Hamartano”. “The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon“. . . Accessed April 17, 2023.
Joshua Calaway's Thoughts 