All We Like Lizards

Do not stray . . . .
Proverbs 7:25

Recommended Reading Matthew 18:12-14

It's not often that Canadians worry about crocodiles; but last summer, panic struck in Vancouver when reports surfaced of a crocodile on the loose. The reptile was finally captured and taken to an animal shelter; but it wasn't a crocodile at all, but a large lizard named Turtle who had wandered away from home. "He must have gone through the wooden gate," his owners told the newspaper.

There's a wandering instinct inside all of us. The Bible says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Perhaps the hymnist was remembering this as he wrote, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love."

While the path away from Jesus may be aimless, the path back to Him is a straight line. There's always a way back to the Savior, no matter where we've strayed. The week between Christmas and New Year affords a prime opportunity to correct unhealthy patterns in life, to make new resolutions for Him, and to get back on the "straight and narrow."

Let's say with the Psalmist: "The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not strayed from Your precepts" (Psalm 119:110).

There is nothing trivial in this life. By the neglect of slight commands, a soul may speedily get out of the sunlit circle and lose the gracious plentitude of Spirit-power.
F. B. Meyer