Consider your end...

"O, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!"

~Deuteronomy 32:29 As the Lord has been bringing me up in His grace, He has been teaching me that the chief end of man is to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. As we follow the Lord on the path of righteousness, our whole focus is to bring Him glory in all that we do. Yet what is the end of those who do not desire to glorify the Lord, who only want to glorify themselves or their false gods? Well, the Bible clearly states that the end of that path is destruction. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off." ~Psalm37:37-38 It is obvious in the above verses what the end is for the righteous and for the wicked. Either peace or perishing. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." ~Proverbs14:12 We may think that we are doing okay and our ways seem right, but are we? Are we fearing the Lord, walking in His commandments, and loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? Or are we following after the ways of the world, doing whatsoever we please, living a life of rebellion and sin? We must pray for help from the Holy Spirit to overcome our sinful nature and repent of this humanistic thinking. This next verse displays the conclusion of the self-serving adulterers: "For the lips of a strange woman drop as honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword." ~Proverbs 5:3-4 "For her (the harlot's) house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." ~Proverbs 2:18-19 The above verses sums up the bitter and painful end of the "harlot". This is not only the end of the harlot, per se, but anyone with an adulterous heart. And yet, as awful and dreadful of an end this is, our society glamorizes the harlot and whore, as if they are altogether glorious and of great worth! Consider their end! "Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end." ~Proverbs 19:20 We must hear the words of the Lord and embrace His commandments. The Bible says that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." ~Proverbs 1:7 And speaking of wisdom, "Her ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." ~Proverbs 3:17 And all that the Lord commands we must teach diligently to our children, so that they will teach them to their children, and so on. It is of utmost importance for multi-generational faithfulness. Looking to the future and seeing our end, we can know whether we are passing on a legacy of destruction or peace. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." ~John 14:6 We indeed must follow after Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith: "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." ~Hebrews 12:1-2 "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps..." ~1 Peter 2:21 May we take heed to this last verse and find great comfort in the precious promises of the Lord... "That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." ~Proverbs 2:20-22