The ruts of routine or grooves of grace: your choice
Rev. Brad Bowen - Calvary Chapel Fellowship
Friday, February 15, 2008
Over a year ago during my devotions I read something that has continued to strike a familiar cord in my life.
The devotion read as follows: A man was traveling in Canada one springtime when frost and melting snow made it nearly impossible to drive farther. He came to a crossroads and saw a sign that said, “Take care which rut you choose. You will be in it for the next 25 miles.” That’s a wise warning for all of us — and not just when we’re driving in rough road conditions. In Kansas especially these days with all the snow, ice, thaw, mud, the interstate becomes a treacherous place. As I drove to work one morning after one of our large snow falls, I came across several cars in the ditch and in the center divide. I thought to myself how easy it is to slide off the correct path into the ditch, a rut if you will. How many of us slide into a “Rut of Routine” we stop going to church for some reason, someone hurts our feelings, we took something that was said wrong. Who do we punish by not attending, only ourselves. We slide into a “Rut of Routine” of not reading the Word or spending time in devotions, time of prayer and communion with God and His Son, and these actions lead to sin, and separation from God. Then I saw a man driving in the center divide, in the rut for several miles. Some people like that “Rut of Routine,” they enjoy that state of sinfulness. It’s much easier to not attend church, or to take time to pray, or even to read the Bible. It takes little effort to sin, to make that choice.
But sometimes it is not a conscious choice to slide off into the “Ruts of Routine,” it is a matter of neglecting our walk with our Lord Jesus Christ. We all can get so busy with other things in our lives we fly out of bed at the start of our day and come crashing back into bed at the end of the day, and as we lay there we say to our Lord, “I’ll make time for you tomorrow,” but our daily routines have already been set and we are in our ruts.
So the question is asked how do we get out. Just like driving our automobiles on muddy roads with ruts we take our time and start to edge our way up and out. It all starts with our prayer life, asking God for understanding and knowledge of His written Word; we must carve out a portion of our day and dedicate that time to Him.
Bottom line, it’s all about choice. Just as the sign stated, “be careful of what rut you choose for you will be in it awhile”
Joshua 24:15 says “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, CHOOSE for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
We clearly have a choice in how we spend our lives and in whom we worship, who and what we choose to serve, we can stay in the same old “ruts of routine” or we can choose “Grooves of Grace.”
F “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Brad Bowen of Calvary Chapel Fellowship.