A Slight Change in Direction Can Make All the Difference in the World
Where are your habits and choices taking you?
One step in the wrong direction doesn’t seem like a huge deal.
Slightly heading off course doesn’t seem like it would matter all that much in the grand scheme of things.
But what if those choices and decisions were repeated over a long period of time? The results may surprise you.
In James Clear’s book Atomic Habits, he shared the impact of just slightly moving off course.
Imagine you are flying from Los Angeles to New York City. If a pilot leaving from LAX adjusts the heading just 3.5 degrees south, you will land in Washington, D.C., instead of New York. Such a small change is barely noticeable at takeoff - the nose of the airplane moves just a few feet - but when magnified across the entire United States, you end up hundred of miles apart. (Clear, Atomic Habits, 17)
I think sometimes we may overlook this same principle in our lives from a spiritual standpoint.
Allowing a sin to continue to linger in our lives doesn’t seem like a big deal from day to day. But magnify it over a long period of time, and it will result in a massive problem. Sin is deceptive like that.
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:14-16)
When we examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5) in the light of God’s word, do we strive to make changes in our life when we find ourselves veering slightly off course?
Don’t be deceived by sin; make course corrections as God’s word points them out in our lives.