HomeWord - March 15, 2012

What Hole Are You Stuck In?
This devotional was written by Robin Dugall

“And he said, ‘then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father’s house for I have five brothers – warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.” Luke 16:27-28 

We all fall in holes, don’t we? We’re walking our way through life and sooner or later, we find that we are at the bottom of some hole, looking up at the sky wondering how we got here. It is inevitable. Holes happen!  You see, the issue with these types of situations in life is not that they happen, but what we do when they happen. I love the following poem. Read it, and reflect on it for a few moments.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson
Printed in Healing the Child Within, Charles Whitfield

Chapter I.
I walk down the street. There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost...I am helpless; it isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter II.
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I am in the same place; but it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter III.
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in....it's a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.

Chapter IV.
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Chapter V.
I walk down a different street.

Pretty good imagery for the Christian experience, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be great if we could all learn from the “holes” in life and NOT repeat the inevitable one-way ticket back to the bottom? Instead of blaming, instead of succumbing to habit, if we could trust the Lord to guide us to a new “walk” in life, our lives would be different.

Transformation occurs when we are committed to being formed into the likeness of Jesus. Learning to follow Jesus is about learning to walk down streets that are different. Today, choose to walk down a “different street.”

GOING DEEPER:

1. What hole are you in now? Are you stuck? If so, what is preventing you from climbing out?

2. How can Jesus guide your life in a new way today? What would your life look like if you walked down a different street?

FURTHER READING:

Luke 16:19-31; Daniel 3; Matthew 7:24-27

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