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Follow the Directions
Bible reading of the Day: But you, Timothy, belong to God; so run from all these evil things, and follow what is right and good. Pursue a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for what we believe. Hold tightly to the eternal life that God has given you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. And I command you before God, who gives life to all, and before Christ Jesus, who gave a good testimony before Pontius Pilate, that you obey his commands with all purity. Then no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns (1 Timothy 6:11-14, NLT).
“The man said to turn right back there, Daddy,” Kirsten said.
“I heard what the man said,” Dad answered coolly without turning around.
Kirsten and her family were on their way to a wedding, and they had gotten lost. After wandering around for awhile, Dad had finally pulled to the curb and asked a man who was walking on the sidewalk if he could help him get to where he wanted to go.
The man answered that, yes, he thought he could direct Dad, so he offered a few sentences of careful directions. Dad thanked the man, pulled back into traffic, and followed the man’s directions for a few blocks.
“Why aren’t you going the way the man said, Daddy?” Kirsten asked. She had listened carefully to the man’s directions and knew that her father had stopped following them.
“I think I know where I am now,” he answered.
Mom glanced at Dad with an expression of uncertainty on her face, but she said nothing. Kirsten leaned back against her seat and watched the city scenes go by.
After what seemed a really long time, Dad pulled to the curb again, and shouted to a figure on the sidewalk. When the man turned around, Dad--and Mom and Kirsten--saw that it was the same man who had given him directions before. Dad stuttered in embarrassment, and then asked the man to repeat his directions.
They finally arrived at the wedding, although they were late. On the way home, Dad asked Mom to drive, and he climbed into the back seat with Kirsten. He told her that he wanted to talk to her about that afternoon, and admitted that he had been too stubborn to follow the man’s directions, thinking he could find his own way.
“But my stubbornness made us late to the wedding, didn’t it?” Dad said.
Kirsten shook her head.
“I already apologized to Mom,” he said, “and she agreed that I should talk to you, too.”
“Why, Daddy?” Kirsten said.
Dad took a deep breath. “Kirsten, I feel silly about what I did, but that’s no big deal. But sometimes we do the same thing with God’s directions, and the results can be a lot worse than being late to a wedding.”
“God’s directions?” Kirsten said.
Dad nodded. “You see, Kirsten, God has explained to us in His Word how we should act and which way we should go. But sometimes--like I did tonight--we ignore God’s directions and go our own way, thinking we know better than Him.”
“But we don’t, do we, Daddy?”
“No,” Dad answered. “So whenever we realize that we’re going a different direction than the way God has commanded, we must agree that our way is wrong, and turn around. We can ask God’s forgiveness for going the wrong way, and let Him help us go the right way.”
Kirsten’s mind seemed to be elsewhere. “That man must have thought we were crazy, Daddy,” she said.
Dad laughed. “No,” he answered, reaching out to tickle his daughter. “Just me.”
To Do: Tack a road map to your family bulletin board or refrigerator to remind everyone in the family to follow God’s directions today.
Verse of the Day: “[F]ollow what is right and good” (1 Timothy 6:11a, NLT).
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