Have you ever gotten lost while you were driving?

When you get lost, you really have no idea of the exact moment when you got lost. You typically don’t realize you are lost until you have been lost for a while.

For instance, I’ve never realized I was lost 50 feet after I had gotten lost. Even if I realize I turned off on the wrong road after just a few feet, I’m still not lost. After only going a few feet in the wrong direction, I still know right where I am, right where I was and right where I need to be. I also know what to do about it. I’m not lost yet.

By the time you realize you’re lost, you have typically been lost for a while. You have been going in the wrong direction for a period of time. That means it is possible to be lost and not even realize it at first.

When you discover you are lost, you will want to fix things. You will want a solution. You don’t need a solution. What you need is a change of direction.

You get to where you need to be the same way you made it to where you shouldn’t be. You begin traveling in a new or different direction. When you change direction, things eventually change.

Jesus actually talked about the principle in the Sermon on the Mount. He summed up his message by saying, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (see Matthew 7:24). It is one thing to hear what Jesus says. It is quite another to do what he says.

Jesus didn’t say, “Put these words into practice and feel immediate relief from all your pain.” He didn’t say, “Putting these words into practice is the fix for all our problems.”

Jesus invites us to live life in a new or different direction. He is showing us the way forward. He is pointing out a better way.

After Jesus delivered his message, he said, “Anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man.”

A wise person understands life is connected.

The past is connected to the present. What I’m doing today (now) is connected to what I’ll be doing tomorrow (in the future). What’s happening now is often because of what happened in the past. More next time …

Steve Greene is the lead pastor of The Point in Seymour. Read his blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or email him at [email protected]. Send comments to [email protected].