I don’t know about you, but occasionally, I feel a little off in my relationship with God. It’s usually when I’ve gotten a bit distracted, or my eyes have momentarily shifted away from where they should be (on Jesus). Essentially, I think I get out of alignment, spiritually speaking.
Whenever I think of “alignment” my mind automatically goes to cars (maybe because we recently went to an auto museum 😉).
My husband is wealth of knowledge about cars, and I began peppering him with questions about what happens when a car gets out of alignment and what happens when it’s realigned. The more I learned, the more I realized what a great analogy this is to our alignment with God.
Here’s what I learned:
- You know when a vehicle is misaligned because the misalignment will cause the car to veer to the left or to the right when you are driving.
- If there is a misalignment, the tires might wear unevenly (and you might not even feel it)
- The tires might also wear out prematurely.
- Misalignment could also cause other parts of the vehicle to wear out due to stress.
Are you beginning to see the analogy here? I’ll come back to this idea toward the end and talk about what happens when a car is aligned properly.
Just like cars, it’s easy to get a little misaligned in our spiritual lives, isn’t it?
In fact, sometimes our attention can be easily diverted away from where God wants it to be.
The lures of this world can distract us just enough to get us out of line.
Let’s look at Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, who was out of alignment.
Matthew 16
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Peter was out of alignment, but until Jesus told him, I don’t think he realized it.
We know that because Jesus tells him, “you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
And what were those concerns?
Suffering & death – that Jesus was going to suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law and then he would be killed.
Why did Jesus say Peter was a stumbling block to Him?
Could it be because the human thing to say is, “no! You won’t suffer like that!” His immediate reaction was NO to the suffering (like most of us would react). Peter’s perspective (which was more self and human-focused) didn’t allow him to see how suffering was part of, and the fulfillment of, God’s plan.
Let’s keep reading and see what happens right after Jesus rebukes Peter.
Matthew 16:24
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must:
- deny themselves and
- take up their cross and
- follow me.
It’s easy for us, like Peter, to get out of alignment when we don’t deny ourselves.
- We are a self-focused culture (just think of selfies). We’re taught to “look out for #1” – but the Bible says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…” (Phil 2:3)
- We’re told we “deserve” things – when in reality the Bible tells us in the book of Romans: the “wages of sin is death” – which is what we deserve – but the “gift of God is eternal life.” That’s not because we deserve it but because He desires it for us.
- We live in a culture of self-indulgence – but the Bible says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.” (Mt. 6:33)
- We tend to want to avoid suffering – when the Bible tells us that “the apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” (Acts 5:41)
I’d like for us to look at an example of two people in the Bible who stayed aligned to God and two ways they were able to do so.
The first one is Daniel:
- Daniel, who had been taken captive to Babylon, had the custom of praying 3 times per day.
- When a new edict came out that forbade him to pray to his God, Daniel had a choice to make.
- Daniel chose to continue his custom of praying 3 times per day to his God (our God).
- Even though the world was changing around him and even though the punishment for his choice was death, he chose to remain faithful and stand firm as he got on his knees to pray.
- Prayer helped keep Daniel aligned to God.
The second example of someone in the Bible who stayed aligned to God was Jesus.
Let’s look at how he did it in Matthew 26:39 and following.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
How did Jesus stay aligned to God?
- He prayed (more than once) – just as Daniel had the custom of praying.
- Jesus prayed “if it is possible…” and really, it was possible, but not to fulfill God’s plan.
- Jesus SUBMITTED His will to God’s will
Why is this such an important example for us?
Because when we submit our will to God’s will, it aligns us to want what He wants – even if it includes suffering.
Submitting to God’s will is TRUSTING that God is sovereign and in control.
Here it doesn’t say “surrender.” Surrendering gives it back to God and takes any action, follow-up, or responsibility away from us. Submitting is actively choosing to stand behind Jesus and going where He goes – we submit to His authority, just like Jesus did to the Father here.
How do we, like Jesus, submit to God?
BY FAITH we step forward and God will give us the strength and all we need to do what He calls us to do.
Friends, I want to ENCOURAGE you. If you already know of an area or areas in your life where you are out of alignment with God, there is HOPE.
You may never have thought of God like this, but He is our Master RE-ALIGNER. 😊
We know that He realigns people because we see an amazing example in the life of Peter – you know the one to whom Jesus said: “get behind me Satan!”
Peter ended up denying Jesus three times and then after Jesus’ death, in John 21:3, he tells some of the other disciples that he’s going to go out to fish, and they say they’ll go with him.
- By doing this, Peter was out of alignment. Why? Because he was supposed to be fishing for people.
- But we know that he later had an amazing ministry. So how did he get realigned?
Let’s read on in the passage, one that some former teammates of mine and I like to call: Breakfast on the beach.
John 21:3 tells us that they fished all night but didn’t catch anything. Verse 4 Jesus is on the shore (but they don’t realize it’s Him) and calls out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answer. Jesus tells them to throw the net on the right side of the boat and they will find some. They did what He said and caught so many fish they were unable to haul the net in.
Fast forwarding a little – Peter swims to shore once he realizes it’s Jesus. Jesus invites them to eat breakfast with them . In verses 15-25, we are privy to a conversation Jesus had with Peter. Jesus does a couple of things here. First, He ensures that Peter loves him “more than these” – I think he means the fish. It makes me think of what Jesus said in Matthew “If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself…”.
Second, He tells Peter what He wants Peter to do:
- Feed my lambs (v.15)
- Take care of my sheep (v. 16)
- Feed my sheep (v. 17)
- Follow me! (v. 19)
To get realigned, I think Peter needed to be reminded that:
- Jesus was alive and well (WE SERVE A LIVING GOD)
- He knows more than Peter does (he told professional fishermen who hadn’t caught any fish all night, to throw the net on the right side of the boat and they caught a miraculous amount). HE KNOWS MORE AND SEES MORE THAN WE DO
- He does the miraculous!
- He has specific work for Peter to do. GOD HAS WORK FOR US TO DO.
Once Peter was re-aligned, he went on to have an incredible ministry and he wrote the epistles of 1st and 2nd Peter.
Friends, I believe God has ministry for us to do too – related to the individual calling He has for each of our lives. One of the best ways to fulfill that is to ensure that we are properly aligned to Him.
Let’s go back to our car analogy.
- When a car is misaligned, it will veer to the left or to the right. But a properly aligned car will go straight when you let go of the steering wheel and the tires will wear as they should, because that’s how the vehicle has been designed.
- In Christ, we are a new creation, and this new creation is created in holiness and righteous. By faith, we walk in it.
- When you make a turn in a properly aligned car, it should, by default straighten out.
- When a vehicle is misaligned, it can cause stress. We can relate to that in our own lives, right? However, just as proper alignment in a vehicle minimizes stress on the vehicle especially on bumpy roads, so our proper alignment with God minimizes problems when we enter a bumpy season in our lives.
My prayer for us is that we would remain faithful in prayer and regularly ensure we are aligned to God – that we want what He wants – that we go where He goes. Let us go be radiant this week!
Go Be Radiant 