DEVOTIONAL

Devotional for the week of  August 1, 2010

(There will be no update for the week of Aug. 8).

 

WHAT KIND OF JOURNEY?

Life is a journey – but what kind has it been so far for you?  Perhaps your journey has been marked by disappointment, sorrow, and heartache.  You yearn for something different, something better in life – but lasting, happiness and peace have eluded you.  Or perhaps you decided years ago to spend your life pursuing excitement, fame, or success.  For a time those may have satisfied you – but eventually (if you’re honest) you discovered they led only to boredom, disillusionment, emptiness, or even self-destruction.

Or you may have found yourself overwhelmed by crushing problems beyond your control: sickness, financial pressures, broken relationships, fear, guilt, loneliness, despair.  Life for you has become a hopeless burden with no end in sight.  Or perhaps you are one of those whose journey has been relatively free from problems yet aimless an empty, without any real purpose or direction.  You may even believe in God and consider yourself a sincere Christian, and still you’re discouraged and confused, overwhelmed by circumstances you don’t understand and don’t know how to escape.    Tragically, every year thousands decide they can’t bear life any longer and decide to end it.  You may even have been tempted to follow them.

The word of Job in the Old Testament are just as true today as when they were written thousands of years  ago: “Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7).  Job knew it from personal experience, and so do we. But must our journey always be this way?  Are we destined to lurch down life’s road from one pothole or detour to another?

Down inside we all sense that this was not the way life was meant to be, and we yearn for something better.  We suspect there must be another way, a different path from the one we have been traveling.  But why do so few people seem to find it?  Why have we missed it?  Can life be any different?

The answer to that last question is Yes!  No matter who you are or what your life has been like so far, the rest of your life’s journey can be different.  With God’s help you can begin again.  With Him you can confront your problems and begin to deal with them, and you can avoid life’s pitfalls and detours.  More than that, with God’s help you can make an impact on our world.  I have experienced this in my own life, and over the years I have met countless others who have discovered it as well.  So can you.

Life is a journey, but how can it become a good journey, a journey that is not only satisfying and challenging, but one that fulfills the purpose for which we were created?  Answering that question is the reason for devotion and in the following days I invite you join me in discovering God’s plan for this exciting journey called life.

You will only make this journey once.  Why not make the most of it?

                       
 NOW GO AND TAKE ON THE WEEK AND SHALOM!