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| Mike Hosey, An Elder |
The concept of alignment is something that most people
intuitively understand. That’s because we regularly run into the physical
consequences of things being out of alignment. For instance, when you grab the grocery buggy
with one wheel that’s out of alignment with the others, you must constantly
fight that buggy to stay straight as you walk down the aisles. When the tires on your car are not in
alignment, you have to fight the car to stay straight on the road. This fight usually produces the expensive
problem of worn tires that must be replaced earlier than expected. The lock on your front door is a master
example of alignment. Inside the keyhole on the door knob is a cylinder with
things called tumblers. If you place the
correct key in the hole those tumblers align and you are able to open the
door. But the wrong key doesn’t align
those tumblers, and of course, the door will not open.
Your life is governed in part by the property of
alignment. If your physical body is not
in line with nutrition, proper exercise, hygiene and those things your physical
body is in need of, then you will have sickness. This, of course, will impact your emotional and
intellectual life, and possibly your spiritual life. If your emotions are not in line with your
intellect, then your physical body may suffer as you make decisions based on
the emotion of a moment rather than the truth of a moment. If your intellect is not in line with
spiritual truth, then you will make self-serving decisions that do not actually
serve you very well, and your emotions and physical body will suffer. Like the grocery cart, all of these
misalignments cause you to fight your body to stay straight as you walk down
the aisle of life. There are many examples of this principle in the bible, but
one of the easiest ways to understand it is to examine the lives of King Saul
and King David. Both Kings were
sinners. King Saul sinned over and over
again, and eventually God took the kingdom from him. Among other things, King David was an adulterer, who apparently tried to hide his sin, and when he couldn't, he murdered the husband of his adulteress so that he could have her freely,
yet God blessed David, promised his bloodline an eternal throne, and gave us
Jesus through him. Why did God exalt one
and crush the other? The reason is that Saul’s heart was not in line with God.
Whenever he sinned, his interest was in exalting himself. When he was caught, or when he was in
trouble, his interest was in saving himself and not changing himself. In contrast, David’s pattern of life was to do
everything as God would want him to. When he sinned, it tended to be out of
weakness. When he realized his sin, he asked God to change him, cleanse him,
and put him in line with God’s precepts (Psalm 51:1-19). Saul rejected the word
of God (1 Samuel 15:26). In contrast, David loved the word of God and made it
the center of his life (Psalm 119:97). When you align yourself with God, everything
else falls in place like the tumblers in a doorknob. God's door then opens for you.
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