[This is week 3 of The Minecraft Devotional]
The sun was setting and I was headed west. I know I had been traveling for a while because this was at least the fourth sunset I had seen on my journey. I had been exploring for a while now and knew it was time to head back home. It should be simple enough to find my way home. I left torches and pillars along the way to mark my path. Unfortunately, those stopped a while ago.
I’ve been going west for a while so I should be able to turn around and go east and find my way home, right? Wrong. You see, every tree I came to made me choose to go either a step left or right. Going through a couple of forests has certainly put me off my path.
I tried to find my way home, but realized I had gotten myself even more lost than I was before. My last option was to make a compass. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I placed down a crafting table, made my compass and was on my way. In no time at all I had found my torch trail I left and was following it all the way home.
Have you ever been lost? I have, and it was scary. I’m not certain there is a worse feeling than to not know where you are. Maybe you were separated from your family in the grocery store or made a wrong turn driving down the road. No matter how old we are, we sometimes get lost. As bad as it is to be lost in the store, or in the car, if we find ourselves lost spiritually, we are in big trouble.
Following the Compass
Our spiritual compass is the Bible. It points us towards heaven and shows us how to go if we want to get there. Just like a real compass, it only does us good if we look at it and follow it.
David said in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” He realized that following God’s word was how he would be able to have the future he wanted. He did stumble along the way, but he continued to follow his compass.
A Broken Compass
If you ever try and use a broken compass to get somewhere, you will likely end up more lost than before you started. If it is broken, it will lead you in a direction other than where you want or need to be. Do you remember the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19? He goes to Jesus and asks what he needs to do in order to have eternal life. He gets to ask the one who helped design eternal life how to have it. Pretty cool!
Unfortunately, his compass was broken. It was pointing towards his possessions and all of the cool stuff he had instead of heaven. It isn’t bad that he had stuff, it was bad that he was more focused on what he had now instead of what he could have later.
Fixing Our Compass
If we realize that our compass is broken and we are going in the wrong direction, or have passed the same tree six times already, there is something we can do.
One of my favorite Bible stories is in Luke 15:11-32. You may have heard this called “The Prodigal Son.” This is where a young man decides to go off on his own and leave his family behind. He follows a broken compass into a lot of trouble and ends up living with the pigs, hungry and wishing he could eat what they were eating. Gross.
It is at that point when he realizes he has been following a broken compass. Luke 15:17 says, “But when he came to himself…” That is sort of like saying, “When he realized he had been going in the wrong direction…” He decided to find his way back home and make things right. His compass was pointing in the right direction again.
The Final Block
All of us have times when we realize we are lost. We can either keep on following a broken compass, or make sure we are following one that will get us where we need to be. Is your compass broken? If so, let’s see if we can get it fixed because being lost is no fun.
Questions:
- Have you ever been lost? If so, how did it make you feel?
- Read Psalm 119:105 and think about what it means for God’s word to be your lamp and light.
- What can you and your friends do to help each other if you get lost.
Speak your mind...