A friend of mine has an interesting dog named Harley that is much beloved by his family. What makes Harley so interesting is the way he gets around. I was a bit dumbfounded and amazed when I met him, because instead of running straight ahead, Harley ran around in circles to get from place to place around the yard. He just ran around and around, making a little more progress with each circle.
My friend explained to me that the dog had developed the habit due to the fact that he was blind in one eye.
I had to smile as I watched Harley because I couldn’t help but see human nature in his handicap. For some of us, progress in our Christian walk can seem just like that.
Do you ever feel like you’re running around in circles in life? While trying to look ahead and press forward and grow in Christ, you somehow end up back where you’ve been before. I know I have.
Whether it’s because of old habits that die hard, or the same old mistakes made again and again, I sometimes find myself asking, “Haven’t I been here before?,” or “Shouldn’t I know better than this by now?”
Have you ever prayed, “Well Lord, here I am again,…” for the 2nd, 3rd, 10th, or 100th time?
Poor Harley runs around in circles because he’s missing an eye and he overcompensates, but when you and I run around in circles in our spiritual life, it’s because we’ve taken our eyes off of Jesus and gotten side-tracked. If we lose focus on Christ, we can easily get distracted from God’s will for our lives and end up going backwards rather than forward in our growth and relationship with Him.
Proverbs 4:25-27 gives us this instruction, “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet, and be steadfast in all your ways.
Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
That’s pretty clear instruction, but for those of us today who would say that we’ve gone backward, and are looking to have our focus renewed or maybe even our relationship with God restored, what do we do?
We simply confess our sins to God and believe according to 1John 1:9 that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We can pray as David did in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence O Lord, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation”
Whether you need sins forgiven, vision renewed, peace restored, or God’s will revealed, you can return to Him right now, right where you are. He’s only a whisper away, if you’ll call out to Him.
Take a minute to talk to God. You’ll be glad you did!