Only in Michigan can it drop from 50 degrees to 9 degrees within hours. One minute we are running around without our coats and the next seating by the fireplace trying to stay warm. I went to bed with the driveway clear and woke up with a 3 foot drift that my car almost got stuck in. On the way to work I found myself sliding through a red-light intersection with my horn blowing, pleading that no one would run into me, because my brakes couldn’t stop my car. Sitting back in my office, thanking God that He prevented me from getting in an accident, I came to two conclusions, or thoughts… First, winter sucks. Second, how many of us are slide through red lights with God. Let me explain:
Throughout our daily Christian walk, God puts signs up that direct us. Through His Word God instructions us how to live, through His Holy Spirit He confirms desires and ideas in us, and through His children He brings accountability and encouragement. Among these there are places that God tells us not to go, things not to do, and thoughts to pull down. The light turns “red” God tells us to stop, but for many of us we slide through. We think God is trying to denying us something, trying to hinder our fun, but what we don’t understand is that God sees the car coming straight at us and is trying to prevent us from being injured. Sometimes we slide through without ever knowing the danger coming at us, other times we see it and lay on the horn, close our eyes, and plead that God will protect us.
But the truth is that we can never slide through the red lights without paying a consequence. Even if we don’t have a fatal collision immediately, each time we choose to ignore the warning signs that God has placed in our lives, it becomes harder to see them in the future. Our vision gets blurred, our senses become duller, and we lose focus on the road ahead of us. When this happens, it’s only a matter of time before we crash.
It’s strange that we understand the the warning signs of our land… the red lights, deer crossing, icy bridge… but so many times we fail to see the spiritual “stop” signs that God has placed in our lives. So take this as an encouragement to slow down and listen to God’s direction. Be in the WORD daily, pray daily, have an accountability partner. Let God’s path for your life be the one that you follow, including all the stops and detours along the way, even if you don’t understand them at the moment. Trust God – He’s wants to save you from dying.
Shalom!
Brent
Brent,
That is sooo good – it ties in so well with your message last night too. You’re so right about how we can just get so used to “sliding through” life that we get accustomed to things OUR way rather than seeking God’s best for us. I have to say that even your message last night hit home in more ways than one – I am so glad that my entire life doesn’t depend on the choices I made as a teenager b/c if that was true I would be in a whole lot of trouble about now! I think that sometimes even when we know that we’ve done wrong in the eyes of God it’s hard to make restitution between ourselves and God more than with another person. Think about it – repenting to and asking forgiveness from someone we can’t see… Granted God reveals himself to us through his Word. I guess I am just learning to walk in HIS forgiveness of me and my mistakes. Like I shared with some girls last night: I can regret stuff for the rest of my life or I can move on knowing GOD ALMIGHTY has made me new and clean!
Thank you Brent for being real -
~Anna
I love how you put it, it’s a lot more simple than we would like to make it, ok, than I would like to make it sometimes! Ok I will finish this post later, when not on the clock at work! toodaloo!