Crooked Lane

As I recently walked through Preston, I came across Crooked Lane, close by the bus station. It had little to commend it. It is a narrow connection between two larger roads. Its architecture was uninspiring, with only one grimy-looking former pub having its frontage there. the other buildings merely use it for their fire escapes. And what about the name? Also a disappointment. It is barely crooked, with a just a slight kink in its straightness. Presumably, it is the remains of some medieval street plan, largely obliterated by modern development. Yet, true to its name, it isn’t technically straight. I imagined Crooked Lane to be a curled coil of road, winding and curved, defying the urban planners’ love of pattern and order. It was really a boring ginnel, just wide enough for a car and close enough to the centre to warrant double yellows. Though the road itself is unexciting, its left tun leads to one of the county’s premier seats of judgment, the Sessions House crown court.  

Matthew 7:13-14 states:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The path you take through life might be less crooked than that travelled by others, but unless it be the straight and narrow of the gospel, you’ll end up in the eternal dock of judgement. If a road is anything less than 90 degrees straight, it is crooked. If a human life is anything less than perfect, it is bent, broken, twisted and corrupted. Its only destination is God’s great throne of judgment. Sure, you might be less crooked than your neighbours, straighter than your relatives. God’s standard, however, is flawless perfection.

Don’t be deceived. Your slightly crooked road is still not straight; your slightly crooked life still fails God’s standard. Christ only is the straight and direct way to God.

Watch the path of your feet, And all your ways will be established Proverbs 4:26