Morning Devotional
November  1, 2005
"Undertow"      
    by Don Emmitte

Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. (1 John 2:15-17 NLT).

 

Having grown up on Galveston Island, being at the beach is not unfamiliar to me. The ocean can be very deceiving. Even when the waves lazily roll in and the surface looks relatively calm and placid, there can be dangerous currents beneath the surface. These are called undertow. There have been those times when I waded out into the surf and seemingly from nowhere a wave would drag me under. Struggling to find my feet and right myself in the relatively shallow water it seems that each wave has some super magnetic power to draw you under the water! There are usually signs posted warning of the dangerous condition.

 

Life is like the sea. Sometimes it is wonderful and calm, sometimes agitated. Sometimes it is deceptive. The key to successfully “wading” out into life is recognizing the signs. They are there, though sometimes hidden within the glitter and pull of surface tranquility. Our career, relationships, money, fame, pleasures all are not inherently evil, though each can possess some very dangerous undertows. They can be deceiving.

 

There is only one who treaded the waters of the agitated sea and ordered them to calm, to which the waters instantly obeyed. That leader is Jesus Christ. Not only is He the faithful leader, but he is our victorious Savior as well ("You [God] have put all things in subjection under His [Jesus'] feet... He [God] left nothing that is not put under him [Jesus]. Hebrews 2:8) Jesus himself affirmed, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." Matthew 28:18 (Oh... how I love that promise!)

 

Our Faithful Leader, Jesus Christ, willingly, has sacrificed His life for one sole reason: to seal God's fatherhood to us with His Blood. Through Jesus' work of grace, live everyday victoriously, assured that you are the son/daughter of the King, are led through life by the most omnipotent Leader, Jesus Christ, and comforted by the Holy Spirit. Declare your faith that nothing dares to go out of the control of your Father.