Watch where you're going!

A few days ago, my dad and I went out driving. Overall, it went well–I stayed within the speed limit, didn’t run any red lights, and took some very sharp turns without ending up in the gutter. It was almost fun. Nothing went terribly wrong and it was a beautiful spring day. The flowers were blooming and the trees were all lovely shades of green. It was so pretty that it was distracting. I wanted to look at all the flowers instead of the road. When we passed a neighborhood, I would turn and look at the road I could have taken instead of the one I was on. As soon as I started looking the other direction and wondering what was on the other path, I would start drifting towards it. My dad would call my attention back to the road and remind me to straighten the car. Maybe I had only drifted a few inches off the right path, but a few inches the wrong way is enough to be very dangerous. Just a few inches in the lane of oncoming traffic with a truck coming at me could kill me. But those other roads were so pretty I couldn’t help but look...what was at the end of them?

Does your walk with Christ ever feel like that? Everything’s going well. Life is good. And then you see something another road that looks ever so inviting. You know you need to follow Christ and stay on His path, but you turn your head to see what it looks like...and the temptation grows. Without realizing it, you drift just a tiny bit into the wrong lane. You’re still on the right road, but part of you is leaning on the other side. That is a dangerous position.

Proverbs 4:25 says to let your eyes looks straight ahead. If you’re looking ahead on the right path, you won’t drift onto the wrong one. Keep your eyes on the road.

In Philippians 3, Paul says that he forgets what he left behind–those streets he passed by–and reached forward to what was ahead–Christ. He pressed toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Genesis 19:26 gives an example of someone who looked back at what she left behind instead of forward toward the grace she had been given: Lot’s wife. What happened? She became a pillar of salt. Don’t look away.

Paul said that he did not run with uncertainty (1 Corinthians 9:26). The easiest way to get lost is to not know where you’re going. Don’t be uncertain where you’re heading! All roads lead to one of two places: Heaven or Hell. Only one will get you to Heaven; all the rest will take you to Hell. Stick to the right path with certainty! Don’t turn aside. Don’t look back. Set your eyes on things above and keep them there!

Don’t look down the other roads even though you might not ever see them again. You might always wonder “what would have happened.” But, as Aslan told Lucy, “Child, that is not your story.” Don’t wander down paths that are not in your story. Stay on the one your Author mapped out for you.