Often we are stuck on the great merry go round of life. We live for God for a while. Then we begin to forget our commitment to God as the busyness of life vies for our attention. Soon, life happens and we start living like God doesn’t even exist. Once our attention is removed from God, he is forced to help us understand that we need him every moment of every day. He will not force us to turn back toward him, but he is the master of introducing things into our lives to help us understand how truly helpless and hopeless we are without him. As we figure out our sinfulness and negligence, we ask God to forgive and restore us to proper fellowship with him. We then wipe the spiritual perspiration from our foreheads and attempt a new journey of living to please him.

The problem is that life keeps happening, things keep vying for our attention, and we fail to keep our eyes on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. We fall prey to the same circuitous dance with sin and never make any forward progress toward spiritual maturity. We force ourselves to repeat the same lessons over and over again, ad nauseum. We don’t seem to realize that doing the exact same thing over and over while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

God has a better journey planned for us. He knows how dizzying it is to continue traveling in a circle, so he has prepared a pathway that l.eads away from sin and towards his righteousness, holiness, and favor. There are no short cuts. The path is full of dangerous traps should we move to the right or the left. However, for those who are brave enough to begin the adventure, there is great satisfaction, fulfillment and reward.

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:4-8)

Relinquishing control is the thing people fear most. However, when you are in control of your own life, the best you can expect is a never ending ride on the spiritual merry go round. Get off that ride and start walking with Christ everyday in every circumstance. Trade your mourning for joy. Stop worrying. Pray about everything and do what God wants. That is the road to peace, protection, and the assurance that comes as we find ourselves secure in Christ. Fix you thoughts on what honors God, and your attention will not be averted. It’s the only way to stay on a path making progress in a forward direction.

It is your choice. Spin until life and sin make you puke, or take a chance and start a new journey with Christ that goes beyond anything you have experienced so far

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