Warning Grooves

Have you ever come home at 11:30 for a midnight curfew?  Of course not.  If you were anything like me, you waited outside on your front steps until 11:59 before returning home.  When given the opportunity, it seems to be in our nature to push the limits to the very farthest degree.  

Perhaps you’ve asked this question before: how far is too far?  How much noise can I make until I push Mom over the edge?  How fast over the speed limit can I drive before the police will pull me over?  How much can I cheat before getting caught?

We like living on the edge. The problem is that when we live near the edge, we may have gone too far before we realize it.  On many of the roads today, as you near the shoulder, you’ll hit a series of warning grooves that cause you to start bumping along. They make a loud enough noise to remind you to wake-up and get back on the right track, but slowly you start veering again and bouncing in the grooves.  Driving on the edge of a road is dangerous, because it can be easy to lose control and fly off the edge.

Having a Christ-following life is much the same. I used to think some of the rules in the Bible were cumbersome.  I realize now, however, that it is these very guidelines – the series of warning grooves – that help keep me from flying over the edge and losing control in my life.  God’s commandments and principles are there for our protection so we can experience all God wants us to experience.  Typically, when people lose control of their lives, it hasn’t been just one bad decision that launches them off into a moral ditch, but a series of bad decisions along the way. 
 
The Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and our fellow Christ-followers help provide us with the warning grooves and the guardrails we need to keep us from flying out of control and going over the edge. Thank God today for giving us the help we need to stay on the “narrow road." Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. — Philippians 4:8

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