When I was in my teens, I learned how to use a compass and follow a course. My favorite memory of that was being handed a five mile course through some woods I wasn’t familiar with. I went through creek beds, up hills and through some dense woods. I found each marker right where it was supposed to be. To stay on course, I looked ahead to a fixed object and made my way to it. I learned that on short distances, the compass worked well. However, if I were to use that compass to go to the North Pole, I would end up about 500 miles away because compasses follow magnetic north and not true north. Magnetic north shifts constantly and often causes travelers to lose their true direction over time.
In Genesis 6, the world was only a few generations in when sin took over. Mankind had quit following God and had started following their own way. Each person had their own version of north and that led them away from their creator. Verse 12 says, “God looked on the earth and saw how debased and degenerate it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way on the earth and lost their true direction” (AMP). When true direction is lost, you need a compass and a fixed point to find your way back. Mankind wanted neither and God sent a flood in order to start over hoping we wouldn’t lose our true direction again.
Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value].” The way you and I keep our true direction in a world that has lost theirs is to keep our focus on heavenly things. We must set our sights on the truth of God’s Word that never changes. When each person has their own truth, we lose our true direction. We end up following our paths instead of His. Don’t let the distractions and worries of this world throw you off course. Put God’s Word in your heart, fixate on it and follow it no matter what. Our true direction is heaven, so let’s keep our eyes fixated there as we navigate this earth.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 