The Great Side-Tracker

We have an idiom in English to get "side-tracked." I believe it must come from the railroads of our country. Trains have played a huge part in the development of the United States, and they still play a vital part in commerce and industry. There are thousands of railroad tracks that criss-cross our land. It is amazing to me that they can coordinate so many trains going in so many directions without having more accidents. The people who oversee the system must be very diligent, because I hardly ever hear of two trains crashing together.

The way I understand the railway system is this. There are main tracks, and there are side tracks. The main tracks go from city to city, from port to port, and from business to business. The side tracks are short tracks where trains can pull off for a while to get out of the way of another train. They don't lead to anywhere. They are dead ends. Therefore, we say we get side-tacked, when we get away from the purpose before us, and we do things that don't accomplish our goals. We get off of the main things of life, and we spend our time on the non-essentials, going nowhere.

The devil is the Great Side-Tracker. He knows that he could not get most of us, especially believers, to forsake our beliefs, but he can get us side-tracked, so that we spend our time and energy doing things that are not God's will for us. These might even be good things, but they are not the main things. We must not allow Satan to do this. We must stay focused on the narrow road and the Great Commission of Jesus. We must make the commitment to get off of the side track and to stay on the Lord's main track. Only then can we bear the fruit of seeing souls saved and lives changed.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Acts 8-10.

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