24th Day of Lent
Not Being Led Astray
Jesus said.... "See that no one leads you astray." Matthew 24:4

There are many ways to be led astray from following God.  Some have followed charismatic leaders, like Jim Bakker back in the early 1980's who ended up in prison for misusing millions of dollars in contributions to his PTL Club ministry.  Closer to home in Utah is Warren Jeffs, in jail for sexual abuse of minors, but who still controls much of the FLDS communities in Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, Utah.  There have always been false leaders to rise up and take advantage of innocent people.  Beware of leaders where the person becomes the main focus and all decision making runs through that one person.  That's a prescription for potential misuse pf power.

But there are also more subtle ways to be led from God.  These worry me more than those that follow after false leaders, for they may actually affect more people.  It can be anything that subtly pulls us from God.  For one person it may be watching more and more television, or spending more and more time at the computer, or more and more time time at the local pub, or finding it easier and easier to sleep later on Sunday mornings and not make time for worship.  In short, it's making other things into gods in our lives, taking us away from the Lord God.  We need to constantly be on guard against this.

One thing I like about Lutheran theology is that it provides a solid center.  That center is God's Word and the sacraments of Baptism and Communion.  When we center in the Word, are baptized and regularly receive the Lord's supper, we have all that we need to fend off  those things that seek to lead us astray.  Today, let us return to that center, and allow all we do flow from there.