Too many of us are so concerned about our problems right now in this life that we’ve not thought about where we will be someday later after death. We’ve got things exactly backwards. We think there is only one path for me to follow on earth, but many paths I can take to get to heaven. God tells us the opposite: worship the Lord alone and you’ll not only live forever in heaven, you’ll be taken care during your whole meandering life here on earth.

There are many ways God uses to get us to where he wants us to go. But there is only one message he gives to save us from sin.

The problems in our day is that we get the one and the many reversed.

We think there’s only one way God can direct our lives. Only one path to walk down. Only one way everything turns out right. Only one right job, right house, right church, right move. So we panic that we may have married the wrong person, taken the wrong job, gone to the wrong school, moved to the wrong state.

We worry that we may be out of the center of God’s will. God has one right way for us; what if we miss it? What if we already have? Maybe your life is much different than you thought it would. Maybe it feels like God has forgotten you. Maybe you fear that there is no possible happy ending in your future. Many of us think there’s only one way God can direct our lives, and if we don’t get our plans lined up with his, well, then all is lost.

But that’s not how our loving heavenly Father guides our steps. God had a hundred ways to get Paul to Rome, just like he has a hundred ways to get you where you are supposed to be.

By contrast, we make a mistake in the opposite direction when it comes to salvation. We panic about a missed job opportunity but never give it a second thought if we miss the opportunity to repent and believe in Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

Most people figure there are many ways to get saved. It’s just about being sincere: if you really, really believe something, then you’ll be okay. Or it’s just about being a decent person: as long as there is someone out there who is worse than you, then you’re fine. We assume that with so many cultures and so many religions, they must also work out in the end.

Too many of us are so concerned about our problems right now in this life that we’ve not thought about where we will be someday later after death. We’ve got things exactly backwards. We think there is only one path for me to follow on earth, but many paths I can take to get to heaven. God tells us the opposite: worship the Lord alone and you’ll not only live forever in heaven, you’ll be taken care during your whole meandering life here on earth.

Kevin DeYoung has been the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church (RCA) in East Lansing, Michigan since 2004. Kevin blogs at the Gospel Coalition. This article is reprinted with his permission.