All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to
teach us what is true and to make us realize what is
wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God
uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)
We
are looking this week at four operations of the Scripture that help us with our
relationship with God and each other.
The first of these is TEACHING – which is Scripture
helping us to understand, or being able to know the track or pathway God
would have us walk; both in the way we have our relationship with Him, and with
all His created order…our neighbors!
The
second operation is REPROOF – how the Bible shows us we’ve slid
off the track.
Today’s
third operation of Scripture is CORRECTION - Correction is the positive
side of discipline in the life of the believer.
The word literally means to set up
straight. It's God's way to help his
children learn how to get back on the pathway of living,
so that we are once again blessed, and a blessing to others.
A
GPS re-routing function is a good example of life course correction,
which is what Biblical guidance is all about.
If you live in Dallas, Texas and you want to visit your aunt in Bangor,
Maine, and on your trip to the Northeast you encounter a road sign that says Welcome
to Seattle, you are sorely
in need of “re-routing”!
(By the way – I hate that lady’s
voice. Who does she think she is,
telling me to turn the other way….I know where I’m going! Don’t I?)
The
Bible word for “correction” or re-routing is “repentance”. And it is literally a turn from one direction
to another. When you have been
travelling in the wrong direction, if you have hopes of ever getting to the
destination you planned, you have to stop going in the direction you’ve been
traveling and head the right way! That’s
re-routing.
We
read in the historical account of God’s chosen people, Israel, how they made some
pretty foolish choices in their journey with God. They made a golden calf to worship,
complained about water and food, and they just constantly got off-track
by rejecting God’s counsel.
At
one point God was poised to wipe his disobedient tribe off the face of the
earth and start over with only Moses and his family (Exodus 32). But Moses interceded in prayer for Israel and
God “repented” – he changed his mind and re-routed the actions he planned.
Often
we think of “repentance” as done with a single prayer at an altar in an instant. But that is simply a decision; genuine
repentance requires follow-through, a change of behavior. We re-rout our direction of behavior. We turn away from the wrong destination and
begin traveling the right track.
Now
this begs the question – always!
What IS
the right track for me?
What does God want
from me?
Well,
if you’re looking for the “general” track direction for every person, the
prophet Micah nailed it thus:
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NLT)
And
from Genesis to Revelation the correction of God (re-routing if you will),
always comes back to this concept…walk humbly with your God…be ready to be
corrected in attitude and behavior.
For You Today
Pick
up that holy GPS version of Scripture; see what God-corrections speak to your
travel log.
Headed
the wrong way? Re-routing….
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