Scripture:
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong
path. Your word is a
lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:104-105
I was
traveling along TN Highway 68 between Crossville and Sweetwater on my way to a
baby shower when I noticed a railroad track that came up close to the
road. In some spots it was well kept,
but it would suddenly be overgrown and covered with kudzu and various forms of
lush Tennessee brush. After this pattern
of tracks and brush I inferred that the track was abandoned. There are many states in which people have
actually turned old abandoned railroads into trails (see http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html).
However this particular rural area had
areas that were preserved and other areas that were lost to the earth.
I began
wondering if that is how it is with our faith rails. Do we neglect our faith in seasons of ease
and prosperity only to allow it to get overgrown and unexercised? I mean it is easy to fail off the faith wagon
when things are going well and we are caring for ourselves just fine. It happens to me without much thought. I fall off the bible study train or the prayer
habit is interrupted by something noisier.
The next thing I know I can’t see my track of faith. It is covered with the kudzu of fear and
anxiety.
I quickly
searched inwardly at my faith tracks to see how they looked to God! A passerby might see the tracks of my faith
here and there in the areas I had kept well-groomed like church attendance, but
what about fasting or intercession? I
was horrified to see how quickly those tracks had gotten overgrown! O I am full of excuses: school, mothering
demands, “church work”! I shivered at
the thought of what my faith track might look like if seen from overhead of my
life like God can view it.
It is so
easy to care for our faith in the areas that make us feel good and bring about
positive experiences. However there is
much more to faith than “feel good experiences”. I pray that this message causes you to search
your faith track for overgrown areas. Where
have you neglected to clear a path for God to travel in your life?
Leslie
Stephens
McMinnville,
TN
Prayer Tip:
Ask God to speak to you every day.
Then look for Him in the everyday spots of your life. He will speak. Are you listening?
