THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Our driveway has a drainage problem. It slopes toward the garage, a quirk of the terrain. Rain pools in a mini-lake that in winter freezes into a rink large enough for grandkids to skate on. Sure, we could invest a great deal of money to have the problem corrected, but how many homes can boast their own skating rink? Selling point, right?

Why does the rain collect there, in that unwanted spot? Why doesn’t it flow into that nice river bed I made for it?

Because water always follows the path of least resistance. There’s a lip of asphalt between the driveway and the river bed. Why would the rainwater want to do any more work than it has to? It’s not leaping barriers. It goes around them.

Just like water, sin follows the path of least resistance. When we’ve worn down a path of wrong choices, sin will always gravitate there, as the ankle that turns in response to a worn heel on a shoe. It is up to us to introduce resistance, to block off the old paths sin is used to following and carve new ones of consistent right choices. The more consistently we make choices that honor God, the more likely we are to make a right choice the next time.

PRAYER: Lord God, I don’t want the choices in my life to “pool” where they shouldn’t. Give me strength to carve new habits and one good decision after another, so sin drains away and every aspect of my life honors You.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will,” Proverbs 21:1 KJV.

Today’s devotional is by Cynthia Ruchti, writer/producer of THE HEARTBEAT OF THE HOME radio ministry and president of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Cynthia’s debut novel—They Almost Always Come Home—releases with Abingdon Press May 1, 2010–http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtZb0by984g. Cynthia writes stories of Hope-that-glows-in-the-dark (www.cynthiaruchti.com).