Cars are funny things. They make noises that you can’t understand or interpret, especially those of us with no mechanical inclinations. They squeak, pop and lurch as if the road just wants to beat up your suspension. Ridges and potholes in the road don’t help either. One day you go out to start the car and look down at the tires. They can be bald on the inside or the tread is wearing off unevenly. You would think that roads and cars would be made to collaborate. But there always seems to be this tension between them as if they are sworn enemies. Even though tires are made for the road and the road made for your cars’ tires, they sure don’t want to cooperate. No matter what the television commercials tell us, there really does not seem to be a solution to the problem. Your tires will always need to be replaced after a certain amount of miles. If the car has any issues before then, they will have to be exchanged sooner.
I once had a car that seemed to need alignment more often than I thought it should. In the days before Carfax-- and after they stopped making cars out of metal -- I would drive the car and within a few months, it seemed to need to go the shop again. As much as I tried to drive the car properly (No Duke Boys’ stunts for me); it would still end up there. All of this over tires that seemed to be out of balance, wobbly and shaky. Although there could be many causes for this, it was determined that the frame of the car had been bent previously. So as much as I tried to fix the tire problem, it was never going to really treat the root cause of the problem.
I notice the same thing in my own life. I walk out the door, seemingly prepared for the day, but a small thing can pop up and I am knocked for a loop. Something has caused me to be bumped from my game, caused me to be driven off the road. If I attribute it to the situation that just transpired, then I may never get to the root of the problem. There may be something deeper inside of me that has allowed me to be unprepared for what just happened. An insecurity, an emotion or something that I had never even thought about can cause me to become worn down on the edges, or defeated and broken down on the side of the road. A false idea about myself or my identity in Christ, could leave me in the repair shop trying to figure out what just occurred. Patching things up and moving along will carry me only so far, until the next similar circumstance. An untimely word or criticism, an issue of fairness or justice or even a miscommunication can be contributors. Wounded, we may limp off to the garage of self-diagnosis and contemplate the event and maybe try to fix and cope with it on our own. But without uncovering the root cause for our reaction, we may just patch ourselves up and get back on the road.
I find this in my cravings as well. Things that I want that take the place of Jesus as King of my heart. Whether its food that may not be good for me to consume or eating too much of the yummy carbs I love, I can get out of alignment with what God wants for me. Anytime my eyes are bigger than my stomach, or the stuff I want is not going to be purchased by what’s in my wallet, I am out of alignment. I have been in this condition before, put a patch on it and peeled out onto the road again. Then I find out that I have not fixed the ultimate problem. When we get ahead of what God wants for us, run ahead of Him, we are bound to head into trouble. Believing that the things we want are not that bad for us isn’t really the issue. If God wants us to have those good things at the time that we want them, He will provide a way. If not, it is better to wait until He provides them. To walk with Him and stay in step, is where life becomes Life. Anytime we run our tires down to the rim and wonder why we are on the side of the road, it is because we have forgotten to stay aligned with Him.
In John 16:13-15, Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’”
As Jesus was preparing His disciples for the end, He told them about the Advocate that would come and help them. This Helper, the Holy Spirit, would be there to guide them every day of their lives and reveal to them God’s will in every situation. Sometimes, I think He is left standing there scratching His head while we make bone-headed decisions that are neither wise nor productive. He can’t help us until we back up and admit that our decision-making skills are less than ideal. To live our lives without the input of our Helper is ludicrous, but we all have moments when we do it anyway. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” So, by faith, we can seek God and His best for us, but that requires a commitment on our part to do just that. It is an action and when we are spiritually lazy and just want to do our own thing, then we can find ourselves in a world of hurting. When we are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and directed by Him (Galatians 5:18), we are making the best use of the Wisdom He gives and our paths can be made straight.
When the Author of our Faith is not the Object of our Worship, then we are out of alignment. Ultimately, who and what we worship, is what has and has grabbed our attention. We may not think of these things as idols, but they are, for they have replaced Christ as the King of our hearts. Whether it is our children, grandchildren or our aging parents, we can become consumed by these relationships and be enamored with them. With the return of warmer weather, we can be obsessive about our homes, yards and cars. And although these are great gifts from our Father, we can be a little more than motivated to take care of them, beautify them, and protect them. If we guarded our walk with Him as fervently as we do with the good gifts He gives us, we would be hard pressed to be found wanting in our communion with Him. If we seek Him daily, moment by moment, and He is the ultimate GPS for our lives, then we will be walking in a steady flow of Grace. He cannot give us His best for our lives if we are not seeking it. As I get ready to walk out the door, I know that this takes commitment on my part. It is an active Trust, to believe that His Best for me is greater than what I desire for my own life. I have found this to be true in so many painful ways in my life. And I have found that the wisest thing I can do is to give Him my plans, schemes and desires and let Him shape, mold and sometimes even scrap them for His purposes and plans for me. This is the best way to walk in Alignment with Him!
I once had a car that seemed to need alignment more often than I thought it should. In the days before Carfax-- and after they stopped making cars out of metal -- I would drive the car and within a few months, it seemed to need to go the shop again. As much as I tried to drive the car properly (No Duke Boys’ stunts for me); it would still end up there. All of this over tires that seemed to be out of balance, wobbly and shaky. Although there could be many causes for this, it was determined that the frame of the car had been bent previously. So as much as I tried to fix the tire problem, it was never going to really treat the root cause of the problem.
I notice the same thing in my own life. I walk out the door, seemingly prepared for the day, but a small thing can pop up and I am knocked for a loop. Something has caused me to be bumped from my game, caused me to be driven off the road. If I attribute it to the situation that just transpired, then I may never get to the root of the problem. There may be something deeper inside of me that has allowed me to be unprepared for what just happened. An insecurity, an emotion or something that I had never even thought about can cause me to become worn down on the edges, or defeated and broken down on the side of the road. A false idea about myself or my identity in Christ, could leave me in the repair shop trying to figure out what just occurred. Patching things up and moving along will carry me only so far, until the next similar circumstance. An untimely word or criticism, an issue of fairness or justice or even a miscommunication can be contributors. Wounded, we may limp off to the garage of self-diagnosis and contemplate the event and maybe try to fix and cope with it on our own. But without uncovering the root cause for our reaction, we may just patch ourselves up and get back on the road.
I find this in my cravings as well. Things that I want that take the place of Jesus as King of my heart. Whether its food that may not be good for me to consume or eating too much of the yummy carbs I love, I can get out of alignment with what God wants for me. Anytime my eyes are bigger than my stomach, or the stuff I want is not going to be purchased by what’s in my wallet, I am out of alignment. I have been in this condition before, put a patch on it and peeled out onto the road again. Then I find out that I have not fixed the ultimate problem. When we get ahead of what God wants for us, run ahead of Him, we are bound to head into trouble. Believing that the things we want are not that bad for us isn’t really the issue. If God wants us to have those good things at the time that we want them, He will provide a way. If not, it is better to wait until He provides them. To walk with Him and stay in step, is where life becomes Life. Anytime we run our tires down to the rim and wonder why we are on the side of the road, it is because we have forgotten to stay aligned with Him.
In John 16:13-15, Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’”
As Jesus was preparing His disciples for the end, He told them about the Advocate that would come and help them. This Helper, the Holy Spirit, would be there to guide them every day of their lives and reveal to them God’s will in every situation. Sometimes, I think He is left standing there scratching His head while we make bone-headed decisions that are neither wise nor productive. He can’t help us until we back up and admit that our decision-making skills are less than ideal. To live our lives without the input of our Helper is ludicrous, but we all have moments when we do it anyway. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” So, by faith, we can seek God and His best for us, but that requires a commitment on our part to do just that. It is an action and when we are spiritually lazy and just want to do our own thing, then we can find ourselves in a world of hurting. When we are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and directed by Him (Galatians 5:18), we are making the best use of the Wisdom He gives and our paths can be made straight.
When the Author of our Faith is not the Object of our Worship, then we are out of alignment. Ultimately, who and what we worship, is what has and has grabbed our attention. We may not think of these things as idols, but they are, for they have replaced Christ as the King of our hearts. Whether it is our children, grandchildren or our aging parents, we can become consumed by these relationships and be enamored with them. With the return of warmer weather, we can be obsessive about our homes, yards and cars. And although these are great gifts from our Father, we can be a little more than motivated to take care of them, beautify them, and protect them. If we guarded our walk with Him as fervently as we do with the good gifts He gives us, we would be hard pressed to be found wanting in our communion with Him. If we seek Him daily, moment by moment, and He is the ultimate GPS for our lives, then we will be walking in a steady flow of Grace. He cannot give us His best for our lives if we are not seeking it. As I get ready to walk out the door, I know that this takes commitment on my part. It is an active Trust, to believe that His Best for me is greater than what I desire for my own life. I have found this to be true in so many painful ways in my life. And I have found that the wisest thing I can do is to give Him my plans, schemes and desires and let Him shape, mold and sometimes even scrap them for His purposes and plans for me. This is the best way to walk in Alignment with Him!
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