Sep
24
You Will Stray
Filed Under Devotional
When discussing physical phenomenon, it is often important to keep the frame of reference in mind. The classic case is that two people sitting on a train appear to be at rest when compared to each other, but they are both moving quite fast when compared to the telephone poles outside. Einstein even figured out that how fast you move can appear to make time slow down. If you can get moving near the speed of light, time will pass more slowly for you than it does for those moving at more normal speeds. A very strange effect, but it all depends on your frame of reference. If you don’t have one, then you can be drifting and never know it.
“Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.” Proverbs 19:27
I thought about the Theory of Special Relativity as I read this because drifting is all relative. Think about it. If you stop listening to instruction from God and stop reading the Word, that means you’ve taken your eye off of one point of reference (say, the telephone pole) and begun to focus on another one more appealing to your flesh (say, that cute girl in the next seat). If that focus happens to be on the train with you, you’ll never know that you’re leaving God behind. Some day you’ll look up and wonder where He went. He didn’t go anywhere, you drifted away.
The key here is that you can’t get close to God and then check that box and move on to the next item. If you lose your focus, you will stray. Notice that it doesn’t say, “You may stray,” or, “You could stray.” It says you will stray. You can bet on it.
Don’t let things become relative. Stay focused on the one point of reference that never moves.
Don’t stray.