Charted

What is Charted?

Like a master surveyor, Jesus gives us clear directions to find a fulfilling, purpose-filled relationship with Himself - a map to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Charted is a daily devotional written by the junior class at Fountainview Academy (Class of 2019). Based on the book Steps to Christ, this book explores the path to the Originator and Provider of Genuine Joy. We don't have to be confused about the way. The certainty is in the journey: divinely Charted.

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own
selves. – James 1:22 KJV
“God doesn’t use force; God never uses force.” This was
repeated to the children in Sabbath school over and over again while
a girl was being forced to leave church because her skirt was too short
and she had several bracelets hanging from her wrists. Little did they
know it was the only skirt she owned and the bracelets covered scars
made from extreme pain happening in her life.
“God is love; God loves everyone,” the preacher declared.
Meanwhile, a lady dressed in a fur coat whispered to her friend that
she disliked the homeless man sitting in the front pew of the church
with dirt in his beard. She was unaware of how he had been one of
the brave men willing to protect the now safe country she lived in and
that his stomach growled because he gave his last piece of bread to a
hungry, stray dog.
“God will never forsake you; God is always there for you,” a
father, as well as head deacon of a church, reassured his daughter
the night before he walked out of her life forever, leaving her and her
mother for a different existence.
As a Christian, I tend to hide behind a curtain of “God,” trying
to convince people that God will never leave them, that He will always
love them, and He won’t force them to do anything they are not willing
to do. However, I do not practice what I preach, even though I claim
to be His follower. I use the excuse of being human as the reason
I don’t act like Christ, but this is a pitiful excuse. If I am truly who I
say I am, I cannot merely be a drill sergeant shouting in people’s
faces that God loves them, forcing them to their knees with a gun,
and shoving a mission statement in their hands to figure out alone.
Through my own efforts of trying to be “efficient” in making enlistments
for heaven, I end up making more of a military society ruled by “do’s”
and “don’ts.” I have lost sight of what a true Christian should be: loving
and struggling. Christianity is not all about what we do for Christ.
Christianity is about realizing what Christ has done for us, and loving
Him for it. It’s about letting His love be in us so we are not just “sayers”
of His love but doers as well.