Potholes

Every Christian will readily allow that sin is insidious, but it is one thing to recognize this in theory and quite another to be regulated by it in practice.  A.W. Pink

If Christ has died for me - ungodly as I am, without strength as I am - then I can no longer live in sin, but must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. I must be holy for his sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it?  Charles Spurgeon

As I was driving to work this morning I started thinking about potholes.  Why was I doing that?  Maybe because I hit the same pothole every day on my way to work.  You would think I would remember that pothole since I drive that way every day and avoid it.  Maybe I am hoping that the city will see that pothole one day and fix it.  Then there is the other pothole on my way home every evening.  The city has repaired it once already but alas that didn’t fix it.  It is back to being a pothole.   

I decided to do a little research and share my research with you.  Did you know there is a state park that has named their pothole?  It is called Archbald Pothole State Park.  This particular pothole is 38 feet deep and 42 feet wide.  It is in Lackawanna County Pennsylvania.  It was discovered by a coal miner in 1884. The park is named for Archbald Pothole which they say was formed during the Wisconsin Glacial Period.  The first potholes were formed by the force of water falling over a long period of time, and here in Texas potholes are formed by ice, water and millions of cars.  I’m not so sure I would want to be famous for the biggest pothole in the U.S., but there are some counties that are famous for the biggest ball of twine and they even have twine-a-thons and you can stay at the Almost Done Inn, so I guess being famous for a pothole isn’t so bad. 

As I was pondering the significance of potholes I started thinking about how our Christian life is often filled with potholes.  Satan is extremely good at wearing us down.  We may be on the right path following God’s Word and living the life He calls us to live and “bam”.  We hit a pothole.  The other thing is we will often return to the same pothole over and over again, repeating the same mistakes over and over again.  If you look at it from a sin perspective, potholes are a fact of life.  Just when you think you have conquered some sin that plagues you; Satan wears us down and we’re right back in the same pothole.

If we want to avoid the potholes of life, we are going to need help.  There are times we are going to need to change lanes.  Other times we are going to need to turn to others for help to get out of our pothole. God is our best resource when it comes to surviving the potholes of life. The beauty of it is that it is never too late.

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am not sure why I keep hitting the same pothole every day.  I think often it is because I am not paying attention and the other is I am weak.  How many times in my life have I hit the same pothole, (sin), over and over again?  Too many times to count.  Help me to realize when I am in one and that I need Your help to get out of it. 

Scripture: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  Romans 12:1-2