We visited with a church in Michigan this past week and stayed with some of our dear friends, Hayward and Sandra. We were standing in the kitchen and visiting. Sandra was reaching over occasionally and picking up an M&M or peanut from a bowl on the counter to munch on as we visited. At one point she made a terrible face and said, "I just chewed one of my vitamins!" She had laid out her vitamins on the counter beside the bowl and was so engrossed in the conversation that she never noticed she had reached for the wrong thing. Sandra's intentions were good, her reach was close, but she missed what she was reaching for and didn't know it until she came to the terrible realization, too late, that she had made the wrong choice.

She is not alone in making wrong choices, though many bad choices have much more serious consequences. Interestingly, Jesus warned us of this problem a couple of thousand years ago. Jesus said:

Are you trying to reach for the right thing?

Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as "Lord," but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. On judgment day many will tell me, "Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name." But I will reply, "I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized" (Matthew 7:21-23 NLT)

Another terrible realization made too late!

What about you, are you trying to reach for the right thing only to get the wrong one?

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

If you want to reach out and grab the right thing, then you better be directed by the "word" of God. How about taking a closer look at what God says about your life and faith now rather than coming to a "terrible realization" later.