Alignment
Most people who own a vehicle periodically have their car aligned when they buy new tires. The reason is that by aligning the car, the tires will last longer, perform better, and the warranty for the tires will not be voided. A car out of alignment will experience unusual wear on the tires, will not handle properly, and can even become dangerous.
When I was young, without Christ and very foolish, I owned a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner. One night I was down on Cumberland Avenue and was not in my right mind for good reason. On the sidewalk was a group of college students, and I was making a left turn and thought it would be a good time to show off what this car could do. So, I stepped on the gas, the tires began to spin and smoke, and I was making my turn sideways across the intersection. I didn’t realize that I was drifting close to a high curb. Once I noticed I let off the gas, the car began to right itself and slammed my right front tire into the curb. At that, I decided to head home. Going down the interstate, it dawned on me that my car was pulling hard to the right. So like a real dummy, I let go of the steering wheel to see what it would do, and it took off to the right into the grass off the side of the interstate and barely stopped short of a concrete culvert. I won’t go into what it cost me to get things straightened out again on that car. But my foolish disregard that led to it being way out of alignment almost got me badly hurt or killed.
It can be very unprofitable to disregard alignment, personally and for others a person may claim to love and care about.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The goal of a follower of Jesus is to know the will of God and do it. Having been born again, I now know who I am and am allowed to know what God desires for my life. I can choose to trust that the desires He places within me for His purposes and glory far exceed anything I could come up with in my flesh.
My discovery of what His desires are for my life are made known and increased when I invest in renewing my mind with His word.
Not just any word I can find in the Bible but the right word that applies to me under the covenant I am in with Him right now.
If I had taken my Roadrunner in to be serviced and insisted that they align it based on tires that did not apply to the car, I would be no better off. I needed it aligned specifically for the tires I had on it.
The same is true for me now that I have come under the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. Jesus did not bring me into the Old Covenant that was before He shed His blood at the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven. That Old Covenant relied on what I could do in my own strength to be righteous. Under this New Covenant, I am made the very righteousness of God through faith in Jesus. I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit now, and my new man within desires to do the will of God.
But my mind must be aligned with the truth concerning who I am in Christ. I cannot serve myself and others by being out of line and thinking as I had before I came to Jesus. To live in the power God gave me to do His good and perfect will, I must align my mind with who He is, His ways, and what He says about me now that I belong to Jesus. Regular alignments are part of the journey, and I find that the more I am in His word, the more I adjust to the truth He reveals to me, and the more beneficial I am to myself and others.
