DAILY DEVOTIONAL ✝️ 

“When The Maps Are Wrong”

 

On Wednesday, April 29, drivers suddenly began driving on the wrong side of Winona Drive in Toronto, Canada.  It was as if an effort had been coordinated by someone to change a two-way street into a one-way street.  Was this an act of terrorism?  It certainly could have caused some crashes.

 

It was soon discovered that the problem was a glitch with Google Maps, an app that many drivers depend on as they travel.  For some reason, the information about this street changed, and it took a few days to make the correction to the GPS.  In the meantime, drivers ignored signs that said, “GPS is Wrong”.  Barriers had to be erected to keep people from using the off-ramp as an on-ramp.

 

GPS navigation has become commonplace in our world.  Once we had to keep paper maps stashed in our glove compartments, but getting directions has now been simplified.  We just look at the screen before us and listen to the guidance that is spoken.  But what happens when the maps are wrong?  The news reports didn’t mention any collisions that occurred because of this error.  But what happens when the directions we follow for life experience glitches?

 

Jeremiah 10:23,24 lays down a truth that we must begin with: “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.  O Lord, correct me, but with justice …”  It is a wise person who realizes that they are not capable of guiding their own lives.  They also realize that the Lord has the ability to correct their course, to put them on the right road.

 

Here’s the glitch that many of us struggle with: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).  Pride makes us believe that we’re capable of guiding our own lives, that we don’t need God’s help.  And that is a life doomed to failure.  A refusal to heed the Lord’s correction is a fatal decision.

 

Why don’t we just follow others?  If most other people are going in a certain direction, that must be the right route to take – right?  Here’s how Jesus responds to that idea: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13,14).  Can we trust Jesus?  He warns that the “many” are on the wrong path.

 

Why do so many take the path to destruction?  Go back and read Proverbs 16:18 again.  Pride keeps us from heeding the One who loves us (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).  Even though the Lord is our Good Shepherd (John 10:1-10), we choose instead to follow the allurements of the world, refusing to believe that such a lifestyle will lead us to eternal ruin (Romans 6:23).

 

Take a moment before you go any farther: Is there a glitch in your guidance system?  Do you really want to go where it’s leading you?

 

Come to the light God offers!  Study His word, the Bible.  Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24) ~"LightGrams" is produced by the Central Church of Christ, 2722 Oakland Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee, 37601, and is written by Tim Hall, minister

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:🤔 “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture.  Just get people to stop reading them.” ~Ray Bradbury