Into the Fire

Have you ever gotten side-tracked? You’re having a conversation talking about one thing when a detail takes you down a completely different path? You end up forgetting how you got started on that topic and the original purpose of the conversation is lost.

With our walk in Christ as we try to focus on being led by the Spirit, it is fairly easy to allow ourselves to be side-tracked. Isn’t it easier sometimes to veer off the desired road and explore other areas which will most certainly lead us to a different place? Walking by faith and not by sight is a challenge for all of us. It requires that we walk along this lighted path without actually seeing “through” the light to our destination and often we can’t even see the tight boundaries of the narrow trail. Even though there is this light, it is sometimes like the thickest fog in daytime. You can’t see a thing except the very next step before you. And, if you don’t concentrate on that very next step with true diligence, you can fall off the path in a harmful slide. What can make it even more difficult is that your “nature” urges you to focus on something easier to see, something that is less difficult and requires less effort. Something that will surely get you side-tracked.

For each of us the something that gets us side-tracked is what we want to do over what we need to do. It becomes easier because we’d rather do it. We get tired of focusing on what will improve us because it requires us to work at it. However, if we could adjust our mindset, we could see that this path which requires more of us will ultimately make this life easier. Not always immediately but in the long run we will be better for having stuck to the main trail because it is designed to lead us to where we need to be, and then to where we want to be. Making the transition between where we want to go and where we need to go is simpler for some than others, but that fact doesn’t negate the necessity for it. We need to go where the Lord wants us to go because whether it’s through the fires, or the deep waters, or the sufferings, or the triumphs, we will come out on the other side a better person for having endured the process with our Lord. We will have had to depend on Him for our deliverances or triumphs, and we will be more suited to lead another, or to help someone understand, or to provide assistance for those who are struggling through those hard places along the right path. We all need a reason to feel worthy of this wonderful call from God. We aren’t just here to take and want and be ever more unsatisfied with our existence on this earth. No, we are here to serve. Service cannot be provided without instruction. Instruction cannot be provided without an adequate experience with the product. This product is precious. It is life, and we need all the instruction we can get. Once we’ve gained enough, we can serve others so they can serve others so they can serve others . . .

Jesus came to serve. He is still serving. Throughout the universe He still directs, instructs, provides, and understands the obstacles from the inside out. If we don’t get side-tracked, He will use us in whatever capacity He has designed us, and we will experience fulfillment.

Father, help me not to get side-tracked in those areas which draw and pull on me every day. I want to serve you first and then whoever you lead me to serve. Help me focus on the path you designed and not veer off in either direction. I need you, Lord, daily. Holy Spirit, let me hear your voice clearly. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.