Misguided

There are times when I’m easily distracted, and my mind and my attention go a totally different direction. My wife and those who work with me will testify to this. I sometimes represent the analogy of the dog who is immediately distracted by squirrel! I can go down a long extended “rabbit trail” and totally forget where my brain was a few minutes earlier.  I’m sure that I’m the only one whom this happens to. (sarcasm)

My faith journey can be like this as well. I can be easily distracted by eloquent speakers or beautiful music that is flawed in its message.

I came across a guy in Judges who obviously grew up in a family with misguided faith. Check this out…

¹ There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. ² One day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.”

“The Lord bless you for admitting it,” his mother replied. ³ He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.”

⁴ So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s house. ⁵ Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest.

⁶ In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. (Judges 17:1-6 NLT)

I sometimes feel like people of faith can be easily manipulated to get crazily legalistic or on the other extreme, where you believe anything and you’re good. I believe the Word of God is truth. I believe the Word of God is clear. There are times where the Word of God, if taken out of the context in which it was written, can be manipulated.

I decided years ago that I wasn’t going to be told what to believe, I was going to read for myself. I don’t want to go a misguided journey with the Lord. I want to hear from Him. I want Him to readjust my misunderstanding. If I start off on a journey and my GPS coordinates are off by the smallest degree, I will miss my intended destination. I miss it bigtime if the journey is very long.

I want to study the Word of God in whole and I believe that it points me to God, Who Created everything. He also sent His Son to make a way for me to be saved from our wicked and decadent culture of self-centered and entertainment centered people. There is more to this life than just this. I don’t want to be lulled into believing that this is all there is. His Word reminds me of the hope of eternal life and how I can make plans to be there. I want to live my life to honor Him and not be misguided by others opinions and ideas. I want to only follow the Lord and live my life according to His plan.

Pressing On!

Dwayne