Using our GPS

My husband got a GPS for his birthday and a couple of days later we headed for the Vancouver International Airport to pick up our friends returning from a mission's trip.

The airport being over an hour drive away, we thought it would be a great opportunity to try out our new 'know-it-all' electronic toy.

To our dismay the device's instructions made no sense at all. On our way to the freeway it begged us to take every side road and when we ignored the instructions and turned onto the freeway it continued to instruct us to take every exit. It did not miss a single one and at one point became very insistent telling us to "U-turn U-turn!"

Finally, we just turned it off and followed the road signs to the airport.

Our son in law is our computer advisor and we gave him the GPS to see if he could 'fix' whatever was wrong with it. He played with it for a bit and then chortled.

His diagnosis ? At some point, we had touched the screen and inadvertently clicked on the option of avoiding all highways!

**

I realized there was a great spiritual analogy here.

As we travel the highways of life we are on what the bible calls the broadway.

This broadway does not lead to good places though, of course, it seems to promise that it does. In fact the broadway's set destination is hell itself.

The broadway is characterized by varying degrees of the 'travel' conditions itemized in Gal. 5 - adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, contentions, jealousies, wrath, selfish ambitions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries.

When we come to the cross and recognize that our salvation lies in faith in Jesus Christ and we are 'born again' something changes -- in fact, everything changes.

1. Instead of travelling through life in circles feeling lost and disoriented we are given a great gift - a spiritual GPS (God-Positioning-System) - the indwelling Holy Spirit.

2Ti 1:14 "...... the Holy Spirit who dwells in us."

2. Our life path now is set to a new destination. We are heading for home - our eternal dwelling place.

Php 3:20 "For our citizenship is in heaven..."

3. We can trust that we are now on the right path, that will lead us to our destination.

Jer 29:11 "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

4. Our life path is now characterized by a new set of travelling 'conditions' ... love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Gal. 5:22

5. Our journey option setting has been changed to "avoid all freeways, highways"

Freeways -- We have a natural default of wanting our own way. We want to make our own decisions, choices, plans. God has a better way to go. His ways are so much better than our ways but even as believers we need to guard against turning again to the 'freeways' of self-direction.

Highways -- We live in a world whose mind set is contrary to the ways of God and yet because the ways of the world are so familiar to us they often make more sense to us than God's ways. The highways of the world always promise us the easy way or the fastest way to avoid the difficulties or sacrifices that will cost us discomfort or suffering.

Warning - Our GPS - the Holy Spirit warns us when we turn our feet away from His narrow paths to the freeways or highways of self and this world thinking , He calls us to take the next exit. If we do go astray or make mistakes God always has an exit ready to take us back to the paths that He has designed for us.

His voice will continue to direct us to that 'nearest' exit off the 'highway' - UNTIL we reach over and shut Him off.

"To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 4:7

6. We can trust that our spiritual GPS will never fail, never need upgrading !

Isa 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

Let us ... "In all 'our' ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 'our' paths."

Pro 3:6