In March, we plan to take a spring break trip to Mount Airy, NC. The Any Griffith Show fans among you will recognize that name as the basis for the fictional town of Mayberry. There’s not really a Mayberry, but just over from Mount Airy there really is a Mount Pilot…go figure. When asked to point out Mount Airy on a map, I could point you to North Carolina, but past that I couldn’t even really point you to the correct corner of the state. Given the “Mount” in the name, I can probably safely assume it’s not near the coast, but that leaves quite a bit of state left over to try and find this “Podunk” of a town. And what makes it worse than finding a needle in a haystack is because it doesn’t cost me nearly $4 a gallon to search blindly through a haystack.
So as we made plans to go on our trip, I pulled up Google Maps and punched in West Memphis, AR to Mount Airy, NC. It told me how far it is from here to there and showed me a line that stretched the
E-N-T-I-R-E length of Tennessee. (Ugh!) But I zoomed in really close and looked to see where we crossed from Tennessee into North Carolina, which highways we took, and where each exit was. I studied that map as closely as I could to figure out where this Mount Airy place was and how exactly I was going to get there. Oh sure, my little Escape has a GPS built right in the dash. And I can punch in an address, and it will kind of give me a decent idea of how to get there. So long as I don’t mind a lot of wasted time taking extra turns or new roads that haven’t been updated and being constantly told to “make a legal u-turn” (which I do mind being constantly told, thank you..I mind that A LOT, GPS lady!). It can point me generally in the right way, and tell me when I’ve gone wrong, but to know with certainty that I can leave my house and get to where I’m going, I’m going to study my map. I’m going to study it before we go, and will most likely print it off and take it with me just in case. And as I approach every turn (which thanks to the very cool Roadview on Google maps, I’ll recognize those when I see them), I’ll check my map to make sure that I’m going the right way.
All of this preparation just to get to some hicktown (pardon the pun). So why don’t I put this much preparation as I get ready to go to Heaven? I mean, I can generally tell you where Heaven is in terms of “it’s where Jesus went” and offer some descriptions we’re given in Revelation. I might even pull an NFL post-touchdown gesture a point to the sky and tell you “it’s up there.” But left to my own devices, I have no better chance of getting to Heaven on my own, than I do of getting to Mount Airy, North Carolina.
But I have a map! We call it the Bible. It will tell me which path to take every step of the way. Sure, I have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and like my GPS it can tell me I’m about to take a wrong turn, and can convict me and tell me to make a legal u-turn to get back on the straight and narrow path. And without the Holy Spirit, make no mistake, it would be impossible to understand the map at all. But regardless of the huge stretches I’m making to compare the Holy Spirit to a GPS, the best way to make sure I get to Heaven is to really get in and study my map. It tells me where I came from. It tells me where I’m headed. It will show me that there will be twists and turns, and mountains and valleys in my path and the best way to get around through each them…and like the roadview, will help me to recognize the temptation fork in the road. Do I take the Temptation Trail or stay on the Heavenly Highway? My map will show me what these intersections look like before I’ve ever gotten to them. That way when I reach those crossroads, I can immediately recognize it for what it is and know how to stay on the road to Heaven. Like Joseph running from Potiphar’s house as he was being trapped by Potiphar’s wife! “I gotta get outta here, and I gotta get out RIGHT NOW!!”
We’ve all been chosen by God to receive His gifts of mercy and grace. John 3:16 is simple – for God so love the WORLD that He gave His only Son. He wants us to get to Heaven with Him. The whole point of the Law was to show us how we CAN’T do it that on our own. So He’s given us the map to get us there. The map is the Bible. It’s the word of God that tells how to get from where we were to where we’re going. Every single day we need to be getting out that map. Zooming in closer and closer, and studying it more today than we did yesterday. Too often, we’re content knowing that we can see the purple route marked on the computer screen. “I was over here in sin. But now I’ve been saved and my destination is this little dot over here marked Heaven.” And zoomed that far out, we miss the twists and turns, and it’s easy to get off course. Sometimes without our map, we can get so far off course, that we don’t think we’ll ever be found again. Hopelessly lost like a hiker in the Montana mountains…when you thought you were in Georgia. Yeah, sometimes we’re THAT lost. Listen for the whisper that tells you that you need to study your Bible. You need to study your map if you don’t want to get lost. Only then can you find your way back to the main road and stay on the course that leads to the Father’s house.
~Dwayne
No comments:
Post a Comment