THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever been lost on a hike?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 3:5-6. 5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
This past Summer my wife and I went to England. We spent three weeks in northern England in a place called the Lakes District. It was full of beautiful lakes and mountains and lots of sheep. One day that we were there, we decided to try to hike up a mountain called Castle Crag. We rode a bus to the starting point, we had our phones charged for taking pictures, and even had on our waterproof shoes and pants (it rains a lot in England). Long story short we got very lost very fast. But thank God, we were rescued by a nice English family with a map who let us hike with them all the way to the top of Castle Crag with it’s beautiful views.
We needed two things that we didn’t have. What were they? That’s right, we needed a map, and a guide.
This year the book of Proverbs has guided us into God’s wisdom. It is a map written for us so that we can know how to get through life without getting lost. My prayer is that this year of devotions will make you want to return to the book of Proverbs over and over, just like a hiker would their map.
More importantly, we must first let Jesus be our map and our guide. We must first let Jesus be our savior. You see, if you try to follow the book of Proverbs, or any part of the Bible, without a savior who has already forgiven all your sins, then you will be following it from your own goodness. That’s like trying to hike up a mountain without a map and without a guide. Chances are you’ll get very lost, very fast. But when we know that we are already forgiven, already loved, already made good by God, then we don’t have to obey the Bible to be good, we can obey the Bible simply because we love God and know that his word is good for us.
Because of Jesus we have a guide for life; we will never be lost.
With Jesus we can obey God’s guidance from love, not from trying to be good.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Think about this past year together. Spend some time as a family thanking God for all the ways he has guided you with his love.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, be my map and my guide. But thank you for first being my savior. Amen.
TLICfamily 