"Do not swerve to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil."
keep your foot from evil."
Proverbs 4:27 NIV
Walk with me for a few minutes. I want to take you down a road that might look a lot like the road you are traveling today. There's no exotic destination; it's no thrill ride. It's just a day in the life of most of us.
Your alarm just went off: WAKE UP! Are you tempted to hit the snooze button and sleep a little longer? What will happen if you do? Maybe you built in a nine minute buffer because you know you'll procrastinate getting out of bed. I see nothing wrong with that if you did, but if you didn't then snoozing might cost you. You may miss the first bell at school or the first appointment at work. Giving in to a selfish desire and missing a responsibility is swerving to the right or the left.
Your spouse or children need your attention today - like every day. Isn't it easy to rush through the day and run out of time for them? When our obligations are too heavy the family is often the first to take the hit. We cut out time with them. We move our attention away from them. We swerve to the right or the left.
That friend request you just received - don't be so quick to accept it. Do you know this person? Have you looked at their profile? Filth-peddlers are trolling the social media looking for people who swerve easily. Take a minute to see if this person is really someone you should connect with before accepting their request. Pornography is an easy bait to get you to swerve to the right or the left.
Money's tight, isn't it? I like to say that most of us live on a fixed income because there's not much we can do to go out and make extra money this week. The boss won't let you work all the hours you want to work. You can't just raise the price of everything in your shop and expect customers to swallow it. So we make what we make and sometimes that's not enough. Does that ever make you think about cutting corners on taxes or piggy-backing the neighbors wifi or doing something else to ease the financial burdens? Don't swerve to the right or to the left.
Followers of Jesus are to have integrity that reflects his character. "What would Jesus do?" is a pretty good question to help us know how to walk through this journey of living. Pray that God will help you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus so that you can reflect his character and stay on the path of righteousness.
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