Sometimes it seems that everybody wants to be a somebody, and they usually end up being a nobody. They are obsessed with climbing the ladder of success, and don’t realize until it’s too late that their ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. They invest their lives in things that don’t pay-off. Well meaning parents often tell their kids, “You can be anything you want to be if you try hard enough” (Like “The little train that could”). They challenge their children to “Make something out of yourself, be a success, follow your dreams”. However, dreaming big and reaching for the stars doesn’t mean your focus is in the right place. Your dream just might turn out to be a nightmare. That life style might sound exciting and might even inspire you to give it your best shot, but that doesn’t mean you will hit the target. Do you even know what the target is? Do you know why you exist? Well, contrary to what many think, it’s not to realize your dreams, achieve your goals, please your flesh, or to get what you want.

Our target, our purpose is to glorify God— nothing more and nothing less. And we accomplish this through loving obedience to God’s will. It is in this that we find our greatest joy and deepest satisfaction– not in living the life-style of the rich and famous. Like Jesus, our “meat is to do the will” of our Father (John 4:34). Absolutely nothing else can satisfy the longing of our soul.

As Christians we find our satisfaction in God Himself, not in what He gives or the world offers. Our happiness comes from knowing we have done the will of God. We are pleased by knowing we have pleased Him. You don’t have to have your name in lights, be in the Hall of Fame, or in Who’s Who, etc. to be a success. Success isn’t based on winning the applause of others, attaining great wealth, or even achieving a sense of satisfaction for what you’ve done.Neither we nor others are the judge. Our purpose has been clearly defined and loudly declared by the Lord— “do all to the glory of God”( 1 Cor. 10:31). Only those who discover and do the will of God hit the target—everything else is a miss. Think about it!

The very title of this article sounds awful– and it is. What in the world could this have reference to— murder? adultery? robbery? perversion? Nope, it’s the tongue! James 3:8 says,”–the tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison”.

Have you ever noticed how many things can be used for good or bad? Water can keep you alive or take your life, depending on whether you drink it or drown in it. Fire can warm and comfort you or burn and consume you. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. Even so, the tongue can heal or hurt, delight or destroy. When misused, it is described by James as, “an unruly evil”. It can do untold damage and even destroy.

The tongue can be misused in several ways– lying, cursing, slander’ etc., but perhaps the most common is gossip. Some mistakenly assume that as long as what they say is true that it’s okay to say it. They think if they are telling the truth it is just fine to tell what they know– even if it means spilling-the-beans on others. But gossip is soundly condemned in the Bible. It is hard to say just a little about this subject, because the Bible says so much about it. Some folks ought to spend an entire day studying what God’s Word says about sinful speech. They might come away shocked that they have been entertaining such an awful sin in their life– a sin,perhaps, far worse than the sin of the person they have been talking about.

Compounding this problem is the fact that many people have garbage can ears— they just sit there listening to things that shouldn’t be said. That makes them complicit in the sin. If you are guilty of this you need to remember that those who complain and cry on your shoulder gossiping to you will gossip about you. Do yourself a favor and let them know that you would rather not hear it. I know from observation and experience that when a person sins, sometimes more harm is done by those who gossip about it than by the one who actually committed it. Please don’t allow others to make you their partner in crime by participating in their sin of gossip.

Have you noticed that in a great many instances when people leave the church they feel they must justify their departure by finding fault. And even that would not be so bad (yeah, believe it or not, the church is better off without some folks) were it not for the fact that they end up causing others to leave. That of course is the mission of some, but others do not intentionally provoke others to leave. However, they do it anyway by their insistence on talking to others about “the problem”. They refuse to simply walk away quietly without stirring up trouble. In some cases they know if they simply leave without an explanation it will raise questions about them, so their pride prompts them to point out that it is the fault of someone else. Isn’t it strange that they don’t want to stay and help the church get better– to work through the “problem” rather than run from it. It just might be that they are looking for a way out and are using the failure of someone else to cover-up their own. If you can’t fix the problem why should you be hearing about it? Not only are we responsible for what we say, we are accountable for the things we willingly listen to. Be very careful about allowing others to criticize the Lord’s church in your presence. Think about it.

Every pastor knows what I mean when I say, you never finish a message, you just have to quit at some point. Knowing that the mind can absorb only what the seat of the britches can endure you just have to stop– leaving much unsaid. Sometimes I think I ought to send out a sermon summation every Monday morning to wrap things up. In a few instances a retraction might even be in order–LOL.

By now you’re probably wondering what this is all about. Well, although it’s Thursday, this is something I might have added on Monday had I not been busy with other matters. Last Sunday morning I preached on the subject of “Getting on Track”, from Psalm 119:59-60. By way of introduction I related an experience I had about 50 years ago to the day. That unpleasant experience had to do with getting lost in the Ozarks while deer hunting. It ain’t like Texas folks! The rugged area where I was hunting was nothing but hills and hollars, and dense forest.

As I said last week, ” The surest way to get lost is to think you can’t”. That describes exactly what I was thinking. I had spent my life hunting and fishing in the Ozarks and knew all the “tricks” of an outdoors-man, but on that particular day I got turned around, lost my sense of direction, and spent several hours getting back to camp– long after dark! Naturally I lied to my hunting buddies and pretended all was well. You couldn’t have paid me enough money to get me to admit that I had been lost. But I learned some things from that experience.

If you’ve ever been lost in the woods, you know that strange things begin to happen. You lose your sense of direction, pick up speed, and go in circles. It’s almost like someone is chasing you, everything starts to look the same, and you panic.

I could make a lot of applications out of this, but today I want you to think about it in the context of the confused condition of our country. It should be easy to see a parallel. For one thing, the more we observe world conditions the more we realize that we don’t actually have a clue as to what is actually happening. We see the heads of state, policies, etc. but we don’t see the shadowy figures behind the scenes. We see the puppets, but those pulling the strings are hidden from view. Well, that’s my take on the situation, yours might vary.

What we do agree on is this— the world is in a mess and it’s getting more difficult and dangerous all the time. Just about everybody believes that something big and bad is about to happen. Voices from every direction are urging us to prepare. Some are known as “Preppers” and the length to which they go to prepare themselves is amazing. They are obsessed with the idea and do a lot of weird things. I’ve often thought I would rather be dead than to “live” like they plan to survive. Who wants to live in a hole in the ground eating prepackaged food ten years old? If I can’t ever see another sunrise or sunset I’m ready for the pearly gates.

Now I believe in being prepared as much as anyone, but panic is dangerous. There have been many roll-over car wrecks caused by someone who panicked, over compensated, and jerked the steering wheel so violently that they turned the car over. I fear that is exactly what a lot of people are about to do. Rather than “Keep Calm and Carry On” ( you might want to Goggle that) they go to the extreme and end up doing more harm than good. In my mind there are “rabbit trails” leading off in every direction right now, but I will try to stay on track and wrap this up.

There comes a time when, after reasonable preparations have been made, we must say enough is enough and leave it in God’s hands. Regardless of how hard you try, there are some things you cannot change or control. My advice is,keep your focus on doing the will of God and trust Him with the outcome. He is never surprised, confused, indifferent, or helpless. He either causes or allows everything to happen. He has His way in the whirlwind, and the king’s heart is in His hands. What appears to be the most awful thing that could happen might be exactly what we need to get us back on track as a nation. Stop trying to understand all the ways of God and start trusting Him to do what is right. Remember, God’s will is always right, best and safest. He knows what we need better than we do.

If you personally are off track, lost in the woods of the world, may I remind you that you need a reference point, a landmark, something  to guide you. And the Bible is exactly that. Return to the “old paths” and take every step in the light of God’s Word and you will find your way through the journey of life. The safest place you can possibly be is in the center of God’s will. There you will find peace, rather than panic. Think about it!