| This is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba.” |
| —Amos 5:4-5 |
Those of you who travel by air frequently have no doubt seen signs in U. S. airports warning of certain international locations where the security of travelers is more likely to be compromised because the airport has not provided adequate protective measures. These signs basically instruct all who read them:
“Don’t Go There!”
Most of us don’t like warnings. We don’t like to be told what to do. In fact, certain Mind Styles™, take every warning as a personal challenge. Those of you who may have heard me share about the work of Dr. Anthony Gregorc and his “Gregorc Mind Styles Delineator™” have listened to me narrate my experience in a shopping mall in suburban Chicago:
Not long before, I had attended a several-day-long seminar conducted by Dr. Gregorc about his work. In that seminar, Dr. Gregorc mentioned that the “Concrete-Random” Mind Style™ does not like to be told what to do. He illustrated this by telling a story about department stores with escalators and parents pushing children in strollers.
So, here I was in just such a department store. I noted that, just as Dr. Gregorc had said, the escalator had a sign that warned parents not to take children in strollers onto the escalator.
As I was reading the sign, along came a very preppy-looking young mother. Unlike many suburban moms, she was dressed as if she was going out for the evening. She paused, looked at the sign, made a disgusted sound, and proceeded to push her child’s stroller onto the escalator.
About half-way up the incline, she began to lose control of the stroller. Because the stroller was one step above her during the ascent, the handle kept pushing her backwards to the point where she nearly lost her balance. I could just imagine her being pushed off her three-inch heels, falling backwards down the escalator and possibly injuring her toddler.
Fortunately, she made it to the top successfully. Surely, I thought to myself, she has learned a valuable lesson. But, no, only a few minutes later, I observed her repeating the same behavior when she again pushed her child’s stroller onto yet another of the escalator’s in the store.
Sometimes in our lives as “Christ’s-ones,” God makes it quite clear that we are not to go down a particular pathway. After all, He has laid out the proper path for us. He does so to keep us safe and on track, able to do His work in this world. If we persist in doing what we want to do, we will find ourselves nearly falling backwards and possibly damaging the lives of those we love. The Prophet Amos warned the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel with these words, found in Amos 5:4-5:
This is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba.”
Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba were locations where other gods were worshipped. Since the people of Israel had been warned in Exodus 20—what we call the “Ten Commandments”—to have no other gods before them, this warning was especially potent. God was saying:
“Follow the pathway I’ve set before you. Don’t go off in some other direction.”
As we begin a new day, let’s make certain that we stay on the pathway that God has opened up before us, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We know, in our minds and hearts, when we start to veer off that pathway. So, let’s stay on the right course. We will be so much better off if we do.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, October 19, 2017
