That'll Preach, Brother!

My sister had a friend visiting this past week.  Because of several health conditions, this man has some challenges and they became very apparent when he drove home.  He left my house at 8:30 A.M. so that he could get to his home town before dark, some 8-9 hours away.  He got home at 3:30 A.M. the next day - 19 hours later.  How?  He got really lost!

As an old Baptist preacher once said, "That'll preach, brother; that'll preach."  So I'm going to preach it.  Here are some of the things that contributed to this sad dilemma.  With your permission, I'm going to draw some analogies to the ways we manage to get lost in life.

• He had the ringer turned off on his cell phone.  Friends and family tried to reach him all day to offer help, but he just didn't get the messages.  How many of us have our spiritual ringers turned off?  God is trying to reach us to give us guidance and help, but we've dulled our senses so much that we aren't receiving it.  God is constant.  If we're not getting the help we need, it is not God who has moved.
• He was reading his map backwards, assuming that because he got here, he could just reverse things and go back.  God has given us great maps and directions in the scriptures and the words of the prophets, but if we aren't reading the maps or reading them incorrectly, they are useless to us.  So we stumble through life thinking we know where we are going only to arrive at the wrong destination.
• When he knew he must be going the wrong way, instead of turning around as soon as he realized it, he kept going in the wrong direction for hundreds of miles!  How often do we do that?  Our conscience tells us we've going astray and in our hearts we know it is right, but we keep on going forward into our mistakes until we begin to think there is not way back.  Of course, there is always a way back, but it's challenging to take it if it involves turning around.
• He called people in his hometown to tell him where he was when he got lost instead of stopping at a gas station to get directions from someone who knows the area, even though some of the people he called advised him to do that.  I've never understood how someone who wants information about being a Christian insists on asking anti-Christians to tell him.  That's like going to the Ford dealer to find out about a Chevy!  I can't think of a quicker way to get really lost than to ask someone who doesn't have a clue where you are to help you find your way.
• He was too proud and stubborn to ask for directions from someone who knew where he was and where he should be going.  I think that is the single biggest fault we have as human beings.  Pride and stubbornness get in the way of repentance all the time.  We want people to think that we are okay, that we know where we are going.  So we keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  If you want to stay thoroughly lost, this is a guaranteed way to do it.

Jesus is there to help us, but He can't do it for us.  We have to tune into the Spirit, study His word, and follow His directions.  If we don't, we are truly lost.  In this famous picture illustrating a quote from the Book of Revelation, "I stand at the door and knock," you will notice that there is no door knob on Jesus' side of the door.  Only we can open the doors to our hearts and let Him in.  Then He can and will help us find our way.

 

Text copyright Gebara Education April 2013

 

Picture of road from an earlier blog

Picture of Jesus from Facebook

Picture of Jesus at the door from multiple sources on the web