11 Days

1 Peter 1:17-19 (NKJV) And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

If you were to take out a map and a calculator, and begin charting the shortest route from Egypt into the Promised Land, you'd come to the conclusion that the trip would take about eleven days. That's all it would have been, roughly just eleven days; 264 hours; or 15,840 minutes.

Instead, that short eleven days stretched out into over 14,000 days. Why? Disobedience. The children of Israel were miraculously delivered from the bondage and slavery in Egypt, miraculously delivered from the pursuing Egyptian armies only to cower at the words of ten men, who saw the land not as the promise of God, but as filled with giants and giant problems. Their bad report demoralized the people and a whole generation died in the wilderness, never entering in. That's sad.

Those are a lot of days filled with aimless wandering. I know that when I recall the children of Israel, my heart is that I don't wander around myself. It's too easy to point the finger at them, while there are three coming back at me. We've already spent enough of our life wandering around in this brutal world; I don't want to spend one more aimless day on the earth. I want to live with His purpose in mind. I want to be led by His Spirit. I want my life to matter for His Kingdom.

Be careful to stick to close to Jesus. Build yourself up in Him in your most holy faith. Don't turn to the left or to the right. Your life matters to God and to this world. Take the quickest, most efficient route of obedience.

Led by His Spirit,
Pastor Ed


Response
This past weekend my sister, who is visiting Colorado for two weeks, came across someone from your church at a fast food place. They paid for her meal - she was down to her last $20 - an answer to prayer. She is visiting Colorado for two weeks and is leaving her children with her mother-in-law for three months. Please pray for her and her children. Thank you so much!