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Good
Monday Mornin!
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
things will
be given to you as well" Matthew 6:33
Have you ever had one of those moments when you have to look at yourself
and
say, "What in the world was I thinking"? I had one of those
moments this
past Friday. I had been riding and as I was leaving the trail it
started raining. I had to go by and pick the kids up from school, get home
and unload horses and get to the "Meet your deacon dinner". By
the time I
got home it was pouring rain, I was in a hurry and to top it all off I
was talking on the phone.
Many times when I come home from riding I will pull down my driveway,
through the back yard and around the side of the house. And that is fine;
it
is a perfect place to turn around, unless it is raining. So here I am,
talking on the phone and thinking about what all I need to do when I
realize
that my truck is sliding sideways, with the trailer, toward a crosstie
wall!
It stopped sliding before I got to the wall, but I was stuck and could not
go forward without sliding closer to the wall. So I get off the phone, get
out of the truck, unload the horses and unhook the trailer. Still, I
cannot
go forward. I realize though, that I can go backward there is just a fence
in the way. To make a long story short, I ended up soaking wet, in the
rain
with a chainsaw removing about 20 feet of fence so I could get my truck
out
all because of one stupid mistake!
How many times in my life do I find myself all in a mess because of one
stupid mistake? And I am not just talking about physical stuff like
sticking
my truck or running out of gas, I am talking about spiritual stuff, like
ending up stuck in my walk with Jesus, or running out of zeal for
ministry.
How many times do I decide to take a wrong path that leads to being stuck?
More times than I care to remember! But I want to tell you a few things
that
can help you avoid such things.
1. Familiar paths can become treacherous under different circumstances.
One of the mistakes that we often make is assuming a path that we once
went down is just as safe as it was the last time we went down it. For
instance, a very familiar path for most Christians is church. It is a
place that we go to and we have experiences with God there. And this is
true, and church is a great thing, as a matter of fact it is a wonderful
thing. We all must go to church somewhere in order for God to teach us how
to do life as a Christian. But what if that familiar path gets
treacherous? What I mean is what if we make the church and the people in
it our god instead of a conduit to God? I can tell you, we end up in a
ditch stuck. Or how about Bible study and quiet time? These things in and
of themselves are wonderful ways, perfect ways to grow closer to God. But
what if these things become legalistic shackles that we wear instead of an
avenue by which we spend time with the love of our lives? We end up in a
ditch. And here is the thing about ditches in our spiritual walk, they
frustrate, disappoint and cause us to get complacent. Being an active
member of the
church is a must for any Christian, prayer and Bible study is the
umbilical cord of life for the Christian, but misdirected these things can
become a place where we get stuck and don't understand how to get out.
Now, once again I want to reiterate, I am NOT saying church, prayer and
Bible study are bad things, please don't hear that! But when you find
yourself frustrated with church and frustrated with prayer and Bible study
I want you to ask yourself am I making those things my god instead of my
God Himself? I promise you I will let you down, people will let you down,
ink on paper will let you down, and time spent staring at a wall or
looking in the air will let you down. However, the God Who created you,
the God who breathed life into your body and continues to do so every day
will never ever let you down. He will give you life and give it to the
full!
2. Limitless distractions will deter you from seeing potential problems.
One of the ways that we end up in the endless ruts is distractions that
seem like good things that are really
distractions. Just like my cell phone in the truck. My cell phone is a
wonderful thing. It helps me be more available to you guys, it keeps me in
touch with the world, it keeps my schedule, downloads my email it is a
great tool. But with it strapped to my ear on Friday afternoon I ended up
in a mess! So what I am saying is that the best of tools that have been
handed to us can become the biggest distractions that help us end up in a
mess. TV,
Wii, ipod, golf, fishing, hunting, horseback riding. . . the list goes on
and on. God gave us these things in order for us to have enjoyment in
life, but when taken to the extreme they become deterrents that may end us
up in a ditch.
3. A life too busy is a life headed for problems. Here is the last one,
and maybe the biggest one. In his book "The Screwtape Letters"
C.S. Lewis has Satan addressing his demons. In his fictional depiction of
what Satan would say he comes across some very real ideas. In
essence Satan tells his demons that they cannot ever recover the soul of
the Christian, but they can smother them with busyness and therefore
render them ineffective. And so it goes, the church programs us to death,
soccer, football, baseball, school, piano lessons, boy scouts, gym, on and
on it goes. Once again all good things, nothing wrong with any of them,
but taken to the limits become distractions.
Life is tough, and God wants to help you and I through it. But we cannot
ever let the things that He is trying to do become a formula for the way
He works. Very rarely does God do the same thing the same way every time.
He sometimes takes us down a familiar path, but wants us to see it in a
different light. Guys seek Him first above all else. We are going to come
up short, He knows that and loves us anyway. Seek Him first and everything
else
will fall into place.
My main goal this week is to help you guys stay out of the ditches of
complacency. To try and help you stay focused on the King and not the
gifts he has given us. Those things exist for us, we do not exist for
them. Have a great week! I love you all.
Pastor Jason Lyle
The Open Range Church of Henry County
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those
who
believe and are saved.
Hebrews 10:39
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