When they get on their pink and purple bikes to go cruising, they normally look in one of two directions. They either look directly at the front wheel or behind them. Both directions pose visual challenges that create potential hazards. Both daughters have great vision, even Chloe Kate who has a little bit of a lazy-eye like her dad. When they look down at their front wheel they veer off the road and gravity takes care of the rest. When they are so worried about what is directly under their tire, they can't see where they are going. On the other hand, when they look behind them, either their arms follow and they wreck or they hit something in front.
Whenever we ride we have two goals. One is to have fun and the other is to arrive injury free. I have discovered something though: ending a bike ride injury free is largely determined on my position as a father. If I walk behind them I can call out directions. "Look in front of you. Don't look back at me. You are running off the road. Slow down, Lance." Hearing my voice lets them quit worrying about the stability of the ground or danger that could be coming up behind them. My words raises their heads and they actually look out in front of them. It gives them confidence to ride and time to correct themselves before we have to break out the Hello Kitty band-aids and Neosporin.
Did you know that this is exactly the position that God promises to take up in your life?
In Isaiah 30:21 God promises, "And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left."
The problem is the direction in which you set your eyes on in life.
You get off track when you focus too much on the things in front of you.
When your focus is on bills, grades, dead-end relationships, careers, politics, whatever it is that takes your focus off of Jesus you tend to veer off and wreck. You fall in a ditch and then wonder how you got there. It's because you weren't listening to the voice behind you.
When you look back to the things behind you, you also find yourself losing to gravity.
When you worry about past mistakes and sins instead of taking Paul's advice and straining towards what is ahead. You can't experience life to the fullest today because you are so focused on yesterday's failures. Or you may be looking back on how great your life was, but now it sucks, so you live miserably not being able to connect with others around you. This is killing many of our churches today.
The solution is easy though.
Listen to the voice behind you say this way or that way.
How do you do it?
You know to read the Word, spend time in prayer, and be a part of a healthy community that loves Jesus. But something else you can do is check your heart. How's your heart? Is your heart hard or is it soft and vulnerable where Jesus can do his best work. Your problem might be that you are hard hearted and it's causing you not to listen to the voice behind you. That voice behind you wants you to go in the right direction, because the Speaker loves you and wants good things for you. So check your heart, Christian. Your Father's voice is telling you the way; you just have to listen and heed its direction.
Question:
Is your heart hard?
No comments:
Post a Comment