Out of the Haze
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. – James 4:13-14.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. – Romans 12:1-2.
If you woke up one morning and suddenly remembered, you had a court date what would you do? Let’s say the court date was in regard to your stealing a car and attacking someone. Now you remember you are supposed to be in court, but you do not have a car or any available transportation. How would you handle the situation? Thomas Mink was faced with this very type of thing and he handled it by stealing a Mercedes. Mink did make it to court on time; however, unknown to him the stolen vehicle had a GPS locator. As a result, police officers blocked his exit from the courthouse. Mink now has an additional charge of grand theft auto. He has also been charged with aggravated assault, because he tried to run down two officers along with charges of fleeing and eluding.
It could be that Thomas Mink’s reasoning ability was somewhat impaired the morning he made it to court in a stolen Mercedes. You see, Mink had been in a crack house that morning and as he tells it, “I’m still halfway cracked up when I got here.” That meant he was still under the influence of the crack when he arrived at the courthouse. It all happened in Miami, Florida.
How would you ever recover from something like that? Only through the power of God. God could salvage this situation to the point of Thomas Mink still having an opportunity to live a productive and meaningful life; after he is released from prison. He does not have to continue down the path he has embarked upon. No, he can turn to God and ask for help. Will Mink do that? I have my doubts but I pray that he will.
What about you? Just because you are not driving around in a stolen Mercedes in a crack haze does not necessarily mean that you are in God’s will. Are you headed down the path of life that God wants you to go down? If you are not sure – ask Him. If you are headed down the wrong path, will you turn around? Will you turn to the path that God wants for your life?
Sadly, for too many people the will of God is a vast and mysterious thing. It is vast and mysterious, because there is so much distortion and interference between God and them. We can only know God’s will and do God’s will by presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. I sacrifice my will to God’s will. No longer will I do what the world wants, I will not be conformed any longer to the world; but will be conformed to what God wants. How do we know what God wants? Through His Word and prayer. Come out of the haze of the world and into His will.
(Come out of the haze of the world and into the light of God’s will.)