I took my little Ford Escape in for an oil change last week. I went a little over the 5,000 miles they recomm end. Along with the oil change they top the fluids off, rotate the tires and do a general inspection of the car for any maintenance issues. With this inspection they have found wiper blade replacement, cabin air filter needed cleaned and time for brake replacement or worn parts replacement needed.

This day they found unusual wear on the tires, three of the four actually. When examining closer, looking at the age of the tire and mileage, we decided the tires should not be wearing at all, therefore, the tires were out of alignment and should be realigned.

So I made an appointment and headed for home. “Wonder what made the cars alignment decide to go out?” I thought to myself driving home. Hitting holes in the road seems pretty common. This winter did do a number on the road I drove. Oh, and there was that canyon pothole on the access lane getting off I-40 going by Love’s at the Webbers Falls exit. Hitting curbs is always a good way to knock out the alignment. Having lived on a country road for 3 years probably did not help either. Then, there is always the age of the car (8 years old) and things just go out or wear out. (like my back or knees!).

In any event, the alignment was out and needed to be realigned or I would be purchasing a set of tires next. An alignment is much cheaper than a set of tires.

As I pondered how my cars alignment happened it dawned on me that our spiritual life is not any different. We go and live our lives and BAM! A pothole comes out of nowhere and we hit it, knocking out the alignment. What kind of a pothole? An illness of a friend, family or yourself hits. It may be the diagnosis of cancer. It could be the death of someone close. These all take us by surprise and can make us question God, become bitter at Him or leave us in a spiritual vacuum.

Curbs come out of nowhere as well as potholes. This could be a curb where we park or a curb we hit turning a corner. Maybe we hit the curb on the street from not paying attention (watching phone instead of road). Life brings us challenges to our faith. We see sin being legislated into normalcy. Society legalizes lottery, casino gambling, same sex marriage and most recently medical marijuana. The Bible speaks clearly on these issues but society has too and if it is legalized then… These can cause us to lose our alignment and go with the flow, question the legitimacy of God and His Word.

Finally, (but there are more, I am just sticking with three. Very Baptistic) we neglect scheduled maintenance. We seem to be running good right now. There are no obvious problems. We seem to be running a straight course in life. The problem is we drift just a slight bit, not even hardly noticeable. We miss a Sunday evening or Wednesday night, then Sunday school, but make the Worship service. Then it moves to a Sunday morning completely every once in a while and before we know it we miss church all together. Maybe it is our daily Bible reading or devotional time a day or two here and next thing we know we are not reading at all.

This all causes us to drift, to go along with society. On the surface of our life all looks good. So was my car. You walk around it and it looked good. I even took it through the car wash and got it all shiny, looking pretty. But upon close inspection, there was a major underlying problem of the alignment. If it was not dealt with it would be very costly.

The same in our spiritual lives. We need to take a look, close look, deep inspection in our spiritual lives to see if we are “lined up” with God’s word and commandments found in His word. Hebrews 2:1, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” We need to pay close attention to what the Bible has taught/is teaching us. The drift can be so subtle it is not noticeable, like my car. A little drift over a long period can move you a great distance or cause a great/constant struggle for you to stay on course.

Take some time to realign yourself with God this week. Then see how much easier it is to go through life pleasing God.

Realigning Life Bro. Tim