I remember the day I went grocery shopping and did not take a list. I ALWAYS take a list, but I thought I could remember what we needed for the next few days. We needed toilet paper so I bought the 9 double roll pack that came with a coupon for tissues. My kids are sneezy so I used the coupon for the multi pack of tissues. They only had three boxes of my daughter’s favorite breakfast item so I bought two. Then there was this really pretty red nail polish that I just had to have!! And when the cashier told me the price I was surprised. Did I really buy THAT much stuff just for a few days??? When we don’t follow a written down list we either buy too much or we forget what we were supposed to get. (What’s for supper tomorrow? I suppose caramel apple suckers and toaster strudels.)

 God has given us a “list” to follow. He gave us His Word so we know how to worship, how to live and how to be saved, but it is our responsibility to follow that “list”. If we rely on our own understanding we will either buy too much and be surprised with what we had to pay or we will forget something and have to go back and start all over again. In essence we have just wasted our time by not following the “list” God has given us. I know the day after that shopping trip, I had to go back and buy some proper food. Man cannot live on caramel apple suckers and toaster strudels alone. Jesus had said when He was being tempted by satan that man cannot live by bread alone (Matthew 4:4). He wasn’t talking about His shopping list. He was talking about how our life is more than just food. He goes on to say in that verse that “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” is how we ought to live. By God’s mouth we have all that we need (1 Peter 1:3) on our list, but it is left up to us. Are we going to live by His “list”? Are we going to go through the aisles of this life and seek those things that God wants us to have in our cart?

 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

By: Kristina Odom