”Which Way Are You Facing?”

 

DISCUSSION                                              

                Billy loved the game of basketball, so when he heard that his elementary school was organizing a youth league he was all in.  It didn’t take long before Billy became one of, if not the best basketball players in his class.  When it came time for his first game, he could hardly control his excitement.  As the game began, the ball was tipped into the air and it was headed for Billy.  He had already begun to dream of what it would be like to have that ball fall into his hands and shoot it into the goal.  As he caught it in his hands, in one motion he shoots.  Just like he had practiced day after day, the ball swished into the goal scoring his first basket.  He was so proud of himself and just knew that everyone on his team would be congratulating him on his first basket.  To his surprise, none of that happened.  In fact, just the opposite.  His coach called a time out and pulled him out of the game.  As Billy made his way to the bench he noticed his teammates were pointing and laughing at him.  He could not understand why they did not share in his excitement.  As his coach wrapped his arms around him and whispered in his ear, “That was a great shot Billy, it was just for the other team.”  Billy then realized he had been facing the wrong way, got caught up in the excitement and shot the ball on the wrong goal. Spiritually, many of us are scoring for the wrong team.  We may be very talented, and we may be a great leader, but if we are not facing the right way, our efforts end up supporting the enemy.  That may be why God made it a point to tell the children of Israel that each tent of the camp was to face the “tent of meeting on every side” (Numbers 2.1-2).  The people knew that inside the tent of meeting, resided the Ark of the Covenant.  It was atop the Mercy Seat that set on the Ark of the Covenant, that God would come and meet with His people.  God knew that it would become easy for them to get distracted as to why they were doing things. This was a way for them to visibly make sure they were making God a priority in their life.  Today, we need to make sure that we are facing the right way, with all our goals and dreams centered around God. Which way are you facing?   

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