We’ve all been lost at different times in our lives. In the old days we used to have to use paper maps to try and determine our location and/or what direction we needed to go, to get to our destination. Now we have GPS navigation systems with voices that literally tell us when to make a turn. But even they’re not completely accurate. Sometimes roads have been closed that they don’t pick up on or the system itself is delayed for whatever reason and doesn’t tell us to turn until it’s too late. And so we end up lost.
The thing about being lost is that, initially, we all behave pretty much the same way. One minute we’re driving along doing pretty well and the next thing you know we’re questioning whether we are headed in the right direction or not and we begin to slow down, and then we stop paying as much attention to the road and start looking at our map or our GPS system trying to compare them to the road that we are on and to the side streets that we see and we begin to say to ourselves “Am I headed the right way? Have I lost my way? “. That is pretty much where the similarities stop though.
There are those of us who we will call the Pretenders – this kind of driver just continues to drive, thinking that eventually they will see something familiar and that they will suddenly no longer be lost. It is almost as if they are pretending they are not lost at all.
Then there are those that we will call the Alternate Routers. These types of people will recognize that they are lost, but will continue on their path and continue to drive along, looking at side roads and for alternate routes that may lead them back on course. And unfortunately, their pride won’t allow them to stop and ask for directions so they are just going to try to figure this out on their own no matter how lost they may end up.
Then there are those who we will call the Seekers. Seekers will actually set aside their pride and stop at a gas station or convenience store and ask for directions.
We behave similarly on our spiritual journey. Romans 3:23 says that we all start out lost “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (when I say lost, I mean not on the road to God and/or Heaven and Luke 19:20 addresses this phrase “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”). But then somewhere along the way we become a Pretender, an Alternate Router or a Seeker.
I was once a Pretender…I was in sin, I was lost, I knew it and I just kept driving (sinning). I knew I was not pleasing to God, I knew that I was destined for Hell, but like a child who doesn’t want to face their impending punishment I just refused to think about it. I also refused to change my course. There are also Pretenders who refuse to change course because they pretend that they are good people (as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; Romans 3:10) and that they don’t have to change course or do anything differently because they are already going to heaven. They compare themselves to the murderers and the rapists and say “I am better than them, I am a good person, so I must be going to heaven”. That might be true if the rapist and the murderer were the measuring stick by which God decides who goes to heaven. But, the rapist and the murderer are not the measuring stick, Christ is and unless we are perfect like Him, we are not getting in. Unless He is our personal Lord and Savior.
The Alternate Routers recognize that they are in sin, but they look for alternate routes to redemption and Heaven. They too may think that by being a “good person” they can get to heaven, but Romans 3:10 and Romans 3:23 previously mentioned tell us that there are none good. Some Alternate Routers think that by doing good works they will get there, but that isn’t the case. (All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isaiah 64:6 NIV). There are no alternate routes to God and/or heaven.
Finally, there are those who have humbled themselves and put aside their pride and sought the right and true way (Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. John 14:6). They may still occasionally veer of course a little, but because of the indwelling Holy Spirit and because of the mercies of God that are new every morning and because He is faithful and forgives us if we repent (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9), we can get right back on the road again.
None of us is good enough, righteous enough, or can do enough for good works to redeem us from the sins that we’ve committed. If we comparing the roads that we’ve traveled and the twists and turns that we’ve taken in life, to what God says is the perfect route we will quickly realize that we have been going the wrong way and we need to get directions. Those are found in the word of God and they point directly to Jesus. The one true way. We cannot take short cuts, we cannot find our own way and there are no alternate routes to redemption and/or heaven. There is one way, Jesus Christ, (Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12).
I pray that today we would sincerely exam the roads that we are on. I pray that if we are not headed in the right direction we would repent and seek Jesus. I pray that we would not be a pretender or an alternate router, let’s be seekers. Let’s seek Jesus with our whole heart. Let’s praise Him for all that He endured for us and Let’s share Him with others and point them in the right and true direction.
If you have found yourself to be a pretender or an alternate router and if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) right now and pray the prayer that is outlined there. Forgiveness is God’s gift to us and it is found in Christ alone. You don’t have to be lost any longer you can be found..in Him (Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— Philippians 3:8-9). Change the direction that you have been headed and pray the prayer on our prayer page, accept the free gift of salvation and shoot me an email, at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com, and let me know. I’d love to be in prayer for you.
Luv Ya!
