park. The daughter knows where they are going, but it seems like such a long ways to walk.
After only one block, the impatient child sees a pile of rocks
and starts pulling on her Daddy saying she wants to go play over there. He looks at the jagged edges and without explaining all the dangers tells his daughter it will be better to wait for the park.
Half way down the next block, the pig-tailed beauty sees “puppy”
she really wants to go pet. Dad glances and sees the bristled hair and big teeth so he tells his child to stop pulling he is trying to take her to the park. This causes little Miss to really fuss.
“You don’t care what I want; you just want to go to the park.”
Arms cross and feet stomp, “The park is so far away, I don’t want to wait to play, I want to play with the puppy now!”
Our heavenly Father wants to lead us to His eternal “park”,are we
impatient with the journey, while allowing temporary “pleasures” to distract us from where He leads? Do we trust our Daddy to care for our best interest and to lead us through life safely?
Last night I used this illustration to help a teen understand
that God does want what is good for us. She was feeling a bit like God wants to take away all our fun and that it is too hard to always think about God. By showing her this example, she could
better see that God sees things she doesn’t and that He can be trusted to guide her; even if something looks fun, it may not be good for her.
I also told her, being a Christian that doesn’t just act “good”on
Wednesday and Sunday doesn’t mean she has to be saying, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” every minute of every day. Being a Christian that has her heart set on living for her Lord, means she evaluates situations by what Jesus would want her to do. If she feels like cheating, the feeling can be strong and the pay off immediate,
but a Christian wouldn’t even weigh the pros and cons, a Christian would remember the Bible says, “Be honest”. Cheating is not honest, so she wouldn’t cheat.