In 1916, Robert Frost wrote a poem called “The Road Not Taken” and the final three lines read as follows:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Now I do not know if Mr. Frost believed in God or not but the reference to taking the road less traveled making all the difference may have a scriptural reference as it’s basis. Despite the fact that the text of the Bible has largely been available throughout most of the world, the road to salvation and eternal life may not be obvious to most. However, the way to the world and the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life seem to abound at every corner.
When teaching the people, Jesus Christ made the following statement:
Matthew 7:13, 14
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. [ESV]
From what Jesus Christ said, it looks like the road less traveled is the way that leads to life and there are not many who find it. In contrast, the way to destruction is wide and many take that road. Why is this the case? Why is the road to destruction so wide? Well the simple and clear answer is that the world claims that there are many ways to salvation and that it doesn’t much matter which one you choose. They also claim that no matter what you choose, everyone will end up in the same place.
Let’s quickly consider what Jesus Christ said regarding this when the disciples asked him about the way to salvation. Thomas had just said to him, how can we possibly know the way?
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [ESV]
Now that is a pretty definitive statement, isn’t it? He said that if you want salvation, the one and only way is by him. Other than that, there is no way to the Father – and eternal life. So the one and only way that God made was for all mankind to accept Jesus Christ as the savior. So if that is the case then – what about all the other ways that are put forth by the world? And there are numerous others – well, Jesus Christ said it pretty clearly when he said that the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction – and those who find it are many. It would be hypocrisy to say that all the other ways are the same when they are not. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life – on one comes to the Father except by him.
I John 5:12
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. [ESV]
And this is talking about eternal life. So, according to the Scriptures, the only way is Jesus Christ – and if you take that way, you have eternal life. If you do not, you do not have eternal life. The wide road leads to death and destruction, the narrow to eternal life.
So Robert Frost wrote,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Now I am not sure that Mr. Frost was referring to the way of Jesus Christ as the road that is less traveled but I assure you, if you take that way, that will certainly make all the difference.