I’ve been on paths in my life that I wish I could go back and start over. I mean that’s just part of the process of being in a fallen world. Thankfully, this is not about perfection.
As we think about how to know if your ONE THING is the right ONE THING, let’s look at seven danger zones to consider when we’re picking a path to get on.
- We are in the danger zone when our short-term actions are disconnected from our long-term goals.
How I’m being intentional today has ramifications on tomorrow.
You should have some basic goals in your life – places you’re headed and things that are important.
But getting up every day without a sense of where you’re headed discounts God’s intention for our life. Paul says in Philippians 3:14, “This one thing I do – forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal.”
In the midst of all Paul was going through in his life, setting one goal that would drive him was critical.
- We are in danger when feelings drive our actions.
As I was preparing the lesson, I remembered the words of a song Barbara Mandrell co-authored back in the seventies and eighties called “How Can It Be Wrong?” One of the lines of the song says: “You run to me; I reach out my arms; when I hold you close, it makes me feel so warm … and we’ll slip away and be together tonight. How can this be wrong when it feels so right?”
That’s a powerful question. That’s where our world is today.
As followers of Christ, we’re not immune from this. We live in a feelings-oriented culture, drawn in by our emotions.
- Moses killed the Egyptian because he was angry.
- David when he looked over the wall and saw Bathsheba. He reacted to his emotions, and we know where that led.
Proverbs 16:32 says, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” And I love this next part of the sentence – “and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” If we can control our emotions with God’s help, that’s better than ruling the city.
- We’re in danger when we deceive ourselves by saying this is God’s will, when it’s not.
This is a problem in our Christian community. When I hear people say, “God wants me to be happy.” A red flag goes up immediately because I know what’s going to follow is going to be stupid, or dangerous or destructive in their life.
We can be so convinced that God has told me something that we violate Scripture.
Scripture must be a guidebook for us when it comes to the path we chose to get on.
James 4:14 says, “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” That’s how we should live our lives.
It’s not about me. It’s about what God would have for me.
Click here for the last seven danger zones to consider when we’re picking a path to get on.
