Gabby is the name...

of my sister's GPS unit. She lives in Big City, Southern USA. Prior to that she lived in Big City, Western USA and Big City, Eastern USA. Suffice it to say, she's a Big City sister not unused to wild traffic and the everyday challenges of navigation. She had a great system going though if she got lost. Sister would call her husband at work and ask him to map quest her out of the lostness. He complied until last year.

At Christmas he presented her with a GPS that she promptly named Gabby. Now, Gabby and sister navigate Big City with ease. For the most part Gabby gets her to destination B from A but not infrequently in all of her gabbyish gadding about ways, Gabby puts my sister at various dead ends. When the satellite moons are not in their seventh house or a super secret sunspot black out is occurring, Gabby is wont to get wonky.

I mean, consider it, Gabby after all is an inanimate machine, without any real investment or personal consequence to itself if it doesn't perform and put my sister where she wants and needs to go. Yet, like most GPS owners, sister takes Gabby at her digital word and acts upon that word to turn left, turn right, stay straight, cross three lanes of traffic, and so on.

God's Word gives directions too. Yet, many put more faith in a GPS than in the instruction from God on how one should live, let alone get to the mall. God who became flesh and dwelt among us,  who knows our hearts, who died so that we might live, who ever lives to intercede before the Father, who has staked His very name and covenant regarding how we are found at the end, THE One and Only God--His instructions are more often neglected than heeded. Even without a button, we turn Him off to listen to a GPS.

And why? Because, He tells us to go where we do not want to go. He tells us to turn away from sin that we prefer to keep to ourselves. He tells us to stay on a straight path of righteousness when the crooked path seems so much more enticing. But only He truly cares whether we remain lost or are found.

True faith is believing Jesus at His Word and acting upon it.