Spiritual Alignment
Years ago we made an investment that’s really paid off for us. No, we didn’t buy IBM stock when it was cheap—we bought a lifetime alignment contract for the pickup. One hundred and thirty thousand miles later, it seems like a pretty good investment.
Since the alignment is free, I try to get it done at least once a year, usually after our annual trek to the mountains of Colorado. Between city speed bumps and rocks jutting out of the mountain roads, realignment is pretty important.
If you don’t keep your front end properly aligned, it will cause unnecessary wear and tear on your tires, reduce your fuel efficiency, and make your ride less comfortable. Occasionally, it does our souls good to realign them too.
You realign your soul every time you ask “what would Jesus do.” Jesus Christ is our Savior and the Lord of our life. His death paid the penalty for our sin, while his life is our guide for living. Instead of doing what comes natural, we need to do what comes “spiritual.”
When you listen to the teaching and preaching of the Word, you are realigning your soul. Our faith is not automatic, it comes from the hearing of the Word of God. We allow God to realign our souls every time we explore His will for our life as outlined in the scripture.
Prayer is another way we realign our souls. Have you learned to pray: “Thy will be done?” It is an active submission of our will to God’s.
As important as it is to keep your car’s front end aligned to keep it running at peak performance, it is more important to keep your soul properly aligned. It is easy enough to go buy a new set of tires if we don’t take care of our car, but it is not that easy to repair the damage we do to ourselves and others through spiritual neglect.
Why not make an appointment with God to check your soul alignment? Block off thirty minutes on your calendar some time this week and ask God to give you a spiritual check up. That’s exactly what David did when he prayed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23)
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
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