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The Stupid Path
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Background: I remember an incident when I was about 10 years old. I had not grown up in religious home but everybody back then had a Bible in the house. I was standing in the basement all alone and ran upon Acts where the Holy Spirit came and I remember saying “I want that” but immediately got involved with the Ouija board and horror/vampire movies. Soon the Beatles came out which led to Transcendental Meditation/occult practices and the 70’s scene, a downward spiral on The Stupid Path.
This was written to a pre-teen who was torn between seeking God and forgetting all about God. I only wish someone with faith would have talked to me when I was tender toward God, around the age of 11. Wonder if I would have listened?
To Anyone in the Valley of Decision:
What if you are given a gift but you can not see it? It is supposed to be very valuable when you are older but you are not certain that there is any such thing for you are very young (and in a big hurry.) You may not even know that you have the gift or if you had an inkling that you have it, how do you take care of it? Instead of treasuring and developing the gift, you decide to concentrate on hot dogs and Debbie cakes. As you get old enough and big enough to do whatever you please, you eat all the hot dogs and Debbie cakes that you want to, even though it makes you sick on your stomach and you feel disgusted. Every night, it is the same old routine; after about 6 hot dogs, you decide that you need something more, so you eat several Debbie cakes. The grease in the hot dogs makes you queasy and the sugar in the cakes make you whoosy…but you can not stop. You glance over on the shelf and see the gift that has been yours for a very long time but you forgot about it and neglected it so it is covered with dust and cobwebs, books and papers and it looks tarnished and useless. Then you wonder if it has any value. You decide to check it out and find that it is something that is to be treasured and treated with care. You realize that you grow in strength as you act according to the worth of the gift. There comes a time when you are no longer a child but you are not a mature adult. This transition may have a marker such as bar mitzvah (Jewish) or confirmation (Catholic) depending on the culture you grow up in. Even if you do not grow up in a religious home, you may have an encounter with God. You know something happened but you have no words to describe it. The conflict comes when the pull of the flesh (normal changes in your being maturing from childhood to manhood), generational influences that you inherited and the world system opposes that Call and Encounter with God. That is when most of us go down the Stupid Path. When we wake up after God captures us by His Love, it is a hard struggle to just get back to the point of treasuring the Gift that He gave us a long time ago. Our innocence is gone and we are usually guilt ridden by our foolish choices. We usually come back as wounded, limping prodigals or become so hard-hearted that we reject the offer of His Love and Restoration. Either way, on this side of life or on the other side of life, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That issue might as well be settled early on in one’s life. It may even help a person to see the gift before they set it up on the shelf to be forgotten and neglected.07/09/2007 Cathy - Crushed Petals Ministries
This was written to a pre-teen who was torn between seeking God and forgetting all about God. I only wish someone with faith would have talked to me when I was tender toward God, around the age of 11. Wonder if I would have listened?
To Anyone in the Valley of Decision:
What if you are given a gift but you can not see it? It is supposed to be very valuable when you are older but you are not certain that there is any such thing for you are very young (and in a big hurry.) You may not even know that you have the gift or if you had an inkling that you have it, how do you take care of it? Instead of treasuring and developing the gift, you decide to concentrate on hot dogs and Debbie cakes. As you get old enough and big enough to do whatever you please, you eat all the hot dogs and Debbie cakes that you want to, even though it makes you sick on your stomach and you feel disgusted. Every night, it is the same old routine; after about 6 hot dogs, you decide that you need something more, so you eat several Debbie cakes. The grease in the hot dogs makes you queasy and the sugar in the cakes make you whoosy…but you can not stop. You glance over on the shelf and see the gift that has been yours for a very long time but you forgot about it and neglected it so it is covered with dust and cobwebs, books and papers and it looks tarnished and useless. Then you wonder if it has any value. You decide to check it out and find that it is something that is to be treasured and treated with care. You realize that you grow in strength as you act according to the worth of the gift. There comes a time when you are no longer a child but you are not a mature adult. This transition may have a marker such as bar mitzvah (Jewish) or confirmation (Catholic) depending on the culture you grow up in. Even if you do not grow up in a religious home, you may have an encounter with God. You know something happened but you have no words to describe it. The conflict comes when the pull of the flesh (normal changes in your being maturing from childhood to manhood), generational influences that you inherited and the world system opposes that Call and Encounter with God. That is when most of us go down the Stupid Path. When we wake up after God captures us by His Love, it is a hard struggle to just get back to the point of treasuring the Gift that He gave us a long time ago. Our innocence is gone and we are usually guilt ridden by our foolish choices. We usually come back as wounded, limping prodigals or become so hard-hearted that we reject the offer of His Love and Restoration. Either way, on this side of life or on the other side of life, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That issue might as well be settled early on in one’s life. It may even help a person to see the gift before they set it up on the shelf to be forgotten and neglected.07/09/2007 Cathy - Crushed Petals Ministries