By the World

You know those lovely dirt roads that we all love to ride on?
On the day they are groomed, they are wonderful - smooth and
clean; but within a few days, the cars, rain, snow and ice begin to
ETCH their marks on the road. Eventually they begin to look more
like a crater on the moon than a road that we are supposed to
drive on.
What was once a beautiful drive through the country is now so
bumpy that you will need to drive back later to pick up the parts
of your car that fell off because of the trip.
This has happened to each one of us. God created us to serve and
worship him. It was part of us that was beautiful and holy. But then
over time, the world began to ETCH out what was once God’s
perfect design. And now? Now we no longer resemble who God
created us to be.
We now live to worship ourselves. We worship our
• Pleasure (Materialism, Opinions, Sensuality, Consumerism, Entitlement)
• Pains (Failures, Tragedies, Imperfections, Heart Ache)
• Identity (Success, Beauty, Acceptance, Sexuality, Career, Life Purpose, Fantasy World)
• Knowledge (Education, Researching/Living for the Unknown, Theoretical Science)
Even when the tractor driver (God) shows up and says “it’s time
to get you all smoothed out and back to the way I created you to
live”, we still don’t want to give up on some of the ruts that have
been formed in our lives.
We have grown to like those ruts. They are familiar. They are predictable.
They are comfortable.
If God were to ask you to give something up that you enjoy or
that has defined who you are, would you be willing to give it up so
that you could do what pleases Him?