Our office staff went to lunch, doing some catching up but mainly talking about ministry in the days ahead. God has been doing a lot at our sweet church and we all are blessed to serve it the way we are. As we were walking back to our cars we were noticing everything around us. The hawk over a restaurant, the car tags and bumper stickers that represent a myriad of view points and statements. But what caught my eye was a strange silver shining coming from the rocky asphalt in the middle of the road.
At some point someone dropped their key in the still-soft mixture that was used to pave the roadway. The edge of the key was covered by part of the asphalt, “solidifying” its place in the road. It’s been driven over so many times that the teeth of the key (even though free of the road’s grip) had long broken off and been separated. It was sad, really. The key no longer with its owner; no longer serving its purpose and function. It will never unlock anything ever again. It’s lost. It’s stuck.
“The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.” —Proverbs 11.6
All metaphors limp, but the key reminds me of what happens when we are “trapped by evil desires,” how our unfaithfulness leads us to such things. Veering away from God puts us in danger, entangling us in a mixture of things that, if the mixture hardens, traps us in the desires that are evil in God’s sight.
But deliverance comes from those who are upright because they are right with God. We are lifted up out of the mixture because we do not desire to stay there. If someone desires to be known by God and defined by Him, they don’t become lost keys that get stuck and break to a point of losing their purpose and function. Actually, the righteous are those who embrace their purpose and function.
My encouragement today is to truly get right with God by putting your whole trust in His grace. That grace will lift you up, should you fall and get stuck in a mixture of sin and evil desires. Don’t let the world hold you down and “cement” your soul. Embrace the Lord who invites you NOW and let Him deliver you.
—Pastor Whit