Coming to a Full Stop

     Over the past few days during my daily health walk, I have watched our local police conduct a campaign in our neighborhood of getting local residents to come to complete stop at stop signs.  For many of our residents, it has been a painful experience resulting in traffic tickets. I spoke to one of those residents about their citation and they said it's not fair that they got a ticket. I was amazed at this comment, especially in light of the law, which state that drivers must come to a complete stop (regardless if there is a officer present). The problem here is not a lack of understanding of the law, but what I call an incremental decline or disregard for what the stop signs means. What's interesting is that stop signs have two close cousins that most people adhere to strictly, Red Lights and Railroad Crossing.

     In the same way, many people are not yielding the spiritual stop signs in their lives. They just kind of "roll through" the intersections of life, not yield to stop signs. Stop signs are warning signs, alerting us to potential problems. Spiritual stop signs can alert us to the need for spiritual renewal, which is the focus is the Old Testament verse in Isaiah 40:31(NAS) which says,

Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

     As the verse above notes, if you weak, not soaring, tired and weary, then it's time to come to a complete stop. Next time you come to a stop sign, ask yourself, "Do I need to come to a full spiritual stop and seek the comfort of God in the Word or Counselor?"  Want to avoid a spiritual as well as a physical and emotional train wreck, STOP!

     In our hurried pace to "get somewhere and do something" are we missing the spiritual stop signs. For some the warning may be a red light or flashing signal at a railroad crossings alerting us to danger. If we don't stop for the stop sign, but just roll past the sign, are we heading into spiritual exhaustion or a wreck? And as you know, spiritual issues are closely aligned with physical, emotional, mental or  physical consequences. Next time. . . STOP and consider!