October 12, 2024

“And he said “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”  (Genesis 3:10)

Do you ever get on auto pilot?
I do. 
Usually it is kind of a routine thing I do over & over & over again. You know the kind of things that are often repeated every day.  You know in the middle of the day I might stop to think and wonder did I do that? 

It is usually something that you just do and then forget about it. Then later
when to get to work you think to yourself, “Did I lock the door?  Did I
turn the heat down?  Did I water the dog?”  You know just simple little things. You are on auto pilot.

Or how about when you are driving down the road? I am listening to the radio or even thinking about what I am going to do when I am rich & famous! 
(Yeah right!!) Then sudden I wonder how did I get this far down the road? Did I stop at the stop signs?  Am I driving the speed limit? So I am on autopilot.  
This is not a good thing! Here is what happened to me the other day. I was in one town and was going to stop by a friends house I am driving along and thinking about all the things have to do for the rest of the day. 

Anyway,  before I even realized it I was 5 miles past the turn off for my friends house. I am not sure exactly where I
was going…..home, maybe?
Now my Dad would have said that by taking that little detour “I was taking a
scenic route!” 
But, really I was just not paying close enough attention to where I was going
or what I was doing.  I was daydreaming about something else and therefore I ended up somewhere I was not supposed to be.  

That often happens to us as Christians.  We let our guard down or we get on auto pilot and we start making mistakes. Then we think to ourselves. “I know this is wrong. But it will not hurt and it is just this one time. Besides no one is looking“.  
Then, a few weeks later we do that very thing again and it does not feel so bad. Then before long you are doing it all the time. Soon we do not care or realize that it is wrong or that we are sinning.  
Oh, I know I have heard all the excuses for this type of behavior. In fact, truth be told I have even used & invented a few of these excuses for my own actions. In all reality we are sinning. No ifs, but or ands about it. It is a sin!  

Here is something you may not realize?  
In God’s eyes there is no size to sin.  It is not big, little, short, tall, fat or skinny. 
A sin is a sin in God’s eyes. 
There is no such thing as a little white lie. 
So we all just need to start paying a little closer attention to what we are
doing and where we are going and how we are acting. 

I for one certainly do not want to find myself standing before God in heaven
and Him with a big ole grocery list of sins that I have committed just because I thought no one was looking.  God is always looking!  So let try our best to make him proud enough that he would put our picture on his refrigerator (if he has one). 

Heavenly Father, Help us to concentrate on being your willing servants. Help us to put idle, worldly thoughts and ways out of our wanting’s. Help us to ask for forgiveness when we knowingly and un-knowingly sin against you.
Lead us in the paths of your righteousness. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

the Church Mouse 
Work hard; pray harder.