An Active Track

Read Proverbs 4

Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.

Proverbs 4:25-26

Obedience is not an accident—it is a choice. Just like little children, Christians decide whether or not they will follow their Father’s commands. Keeping in line is not easy, however. As our divine Parent, God encourages us by offering a plan for success and then adds a promise of safety to spur us onward.

God does not assume our passivity. Each phrase of Proverbs 4:25-26 contains action that propels a believer along a path of obedience. These spiritual principles closely parallel the rules for keeping a compass heading in the wilderness. We take a sighting on a distant, immovable object in the direction we must go, and then walk directly to it. When we reach that object, we take another sighting and repeat the process until we arrive at our destination.

God knows that in order for us to make it in the wilderness of this life, we have to continually keep our sights on his commands. Sharpening our focus to remove any distractions, we map out our route and then discipline ourselves to follow it. God’s Word provides an immovable object that can keep us traveling in the right direction.

A WORD FOR TODAY

Don’t detour from the straight and narrow.

Today, Lord, guide me as a little child in the way of obedience, and continue to bless me with your promises.