July 4

Jul 4 - Today from Proverbs 4 we look at verse 25
"Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you."

The authors of the Bible, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, often refer to the processing of life as a path. The most popular and beloved Psalm, written by Solomon's father, says of the Good Shepherd "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." (Ps. 23:3). Now Solomon teaches his children about the paths of life. I verse 18 he uses the same phrase as his father David, "The path of righteousness is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day." In verses 26 and 27 he tells his children to make level paths, and not to swerve to the right or the left. Once one finds the first gleam of truth, and sets himself to pursue that truth, one is on the path of righteousness.
When Adam sinned, he set all of mankind on a path of darkness. Spiritual darkness. Man is not born with the understanding of God. Man is not born with the understanding of the purpose of his own life. Man is not born with the understanding of truth, or how truth is to be applied to life. He is born in spiritual darkness. As man grows, he is able to discern there is a God simply by observing creation and by listening to his conscience. But without the clear revelation of God through His Word, man cannot truly understand God, or the purpose of his own life, or know absolute TRUTH and its applications to life. We have the Word of God. We have the Holy Spirit to lead us into all TRUTH. On the day we understood that the Bible is our source of objective TRUTH, and through that TRUTH we discovered and accepted that the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the darkness by dying in our place, we were set firmly on the path of righteousness. We were facing the first gleam of dawn. We were attuned to the voice of the Good Shepherd and positioned to follow Him. We were experiencing our 'first love'. Remember? It is at such a time that every believer is called to take a vow. Some make public profession of their faith. Some follow in obedience to believer's baptism. Some can only bow in silence before the Sovereign Lord and mark that moment with a vow in their heart. Irrespective of how the vow is made, it is a spiritual commitment to follow Him no matter where the path of righteousness leads. It is no different than a vow taken between a man and a woman who have committed themselves to one another in holy matrimony; "For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part."

Commitment.
Focus.
Determination.
Decisiveness.
LOVE!

What happens to that first love? Too often people confuse romance with love. Romance is based in the realm of emotion. There's nothing wrong with romance, after all, emotion is what makes life animated. But love is a decision. Love is deeper than the moving, animated level of emotion. Love is based in the realm of the will, and the will is to be based on TRUTH. When we couple our will with our emotions, we tend to betray our vows. Our commitments mean little or nothing. We become unfocused, undetermined and indecisive. We lose our first love. Our emotions are attached to our senses. We become happy, sad, angry, aroused, depressed, cheerful . . . according to things we see, smell, taste, hear and touch. When we attach our will to our emotions, we are opening ourselves to swerving all over the path of life. When we attach our will to TRUTH, we are committed, focused, determined, decisive, and acting in love. That is basically what faith is, and without faith it is impossible to please God.
Jesus made a vow to us, and sealed it with His Spirit. "I will never leave you or forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5). You can put it in the bank. Through His passion He redeemed us. Through His will He vowed to us. By His Spirit He leads us - if we are willing to follow.
How often have we as the church swerved to the right and to the left of the path because we were led by our emotions rather than by His TRUTH? How well are we doing in our commitment to the Great Commandment? Our focus on the Great Shepherd? Our determination to the Great Commission? Our decisiveness in being a Great Church?
Have we somehow lost our first love and are we now pursuing romance in other areas?