Within or Without

I don't know about you, but I have realized that we aren't always going to walk the right path, no matter how 'determined' we are. There will always be alternatives, and we will not always select the right one. The issue isn't that we will veer off-course from time to time, it is that we should never make those 'veers' a permanent life choice. We need to learn to recognize them quickly, come before God in humility, acknowledge our need to get back on-course, and then let him help us take the right steps forward.

Godliness guards the path of the blameless, but the evil are misled by sin. (Proverbs 13:6)

A guarded path is much harder to veer off of than an unguarded one. We may try, but there is always protection to get us back on course or keep us there in the first place. It has good defenses to ensure there is nothing that can act as a destructive force on that path. The evil heart actually chooses a non-guarded path because it is more 'appealing' to their base sense of 'adventure', 'thrill', or 'interest'. It is kind of like driving on a road with no guard rails to keep you from going over the steep edges. 

The issue is which 'pull' will be heed most often. Will we heed the 'pull' toward right choices, or will we need the 'pull' toward what satisfies our fleshly desires. When the 'pull' to do whatever satisfies our fleshly desires is greater than the 'pull' toward obedience, we have a problem. There is always protection offered over our lives, but it must be recognized as a 'barrier' meant to keep us safe, and then we must make every effort to stay within that barrier. As with the guard rail on the road, they only protect us when we take notice, heed their warning, and realize than nothing good will come from going over them!

Blameless people don't really exist, do they? We might make right choices 'most of the time', but are we truly 'blameless'? If we read this the way God intended us to read it, we simply realize that when we 'goof up', we have a way back. We still have choices, but we are likely making correct ones more than we are making the incorrect ones. We are walking a path with a 'guide' that brings us back when we make a choice to go beyond the barrier. Godly people are grace-filled, and that grace draws them back into a protected path once again. Sin might be an occasional problem for the godly, but it is a lifestyle for the ungodly. We choose to live within or without protection - so we must choose wisely. Just sayin!